Australian Open tiebreak trends when Ofner thinks he won before blowing huge lead to Basavareddy

Australian Open tiebreak trends when Ofner thinks he won before blowing huge lead to Basavareddy originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Don't celebrate too early.

Advertisement

That's the lesson that Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner learned earlier this week at the Australian Open.

He found himself in a tiebreak during qualifying with American player Nishesh Basavareddy.

Ofner stormed ahead in the tiebreak, taking a 7-1 lead.

He celebrated like he won the match.

But turns out, tiebreaks at that stage go to 10 points, not seven.

Basavareddy proceeded to put together a monster comeback and won it, 13-11.

He won the qualifying match 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11) to keep his time playing in Australia alive.

He also let Ofner know he had messed up:

That's quite ruthless. Kick the man while he's down, why don't you?

Advertisement

It's certainly incredible resilience from Basavareddy to come all the way back and preserve his tournament.

But ouch, that's painful to watch from Ofner's perspective. From ecstasy to agony, very quickly.

Click here to read article