Sebastian Ofner was ecstatic. He had just gone up 7-1 in his third-set tiebreaker in Australian Open qualifying, raising his arms, celebrating and tapping a finger to his head, believing he had won the match.

The only problem was, well, he hadn’t won. The third set super tiebreaker goes to 10 points, not seven.

Just over 10 minutes later, he had lost 13-11 to American Nishesh Basavareddy and was eliminated from qualification.

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Sebastian Ofner thinks he's won the match.

Sebastian Ofner thinks he’s won the match. Twitter

Basavareddy wasn’t subtle in his celebration either, putting his hands to his throat to indicate Ofner had choked, upon victory.

Despite the choke celebration, the Austrian still shook Basavareddy’s hand before trudging off the court.

The unbelievable scene quickly blew up on social media.

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American journalist Ben Rothenberg tweeting “Holy crap, he lost. After Ofner’s premature celebration Basavareddy won eight of the next nine points, then hung on to take the tiebreak 13-11. Wildest ride of the Australian Open so far; should make for some viral videos”.

Barstool Tennis labelled the situation “insanity”.

Ofner won the first set 6-4, before his opponent hit back to win the second set 4-6.

Basavareddy's reaction after actually winning.

Basavareddy’s reaction after actually winning.  Twitter

Basavareddy ultimately held off two match points in his comeback, along with winning eight of the next nine points after the premature celebration.

He will now face George Loffhagen of the United Kingdom for a place in the Australian Open main draw.

For Ofner, this incident is unfortunately not his first instance of choking away a big lead.

In 2023 at the Generali Open Kitzbühel in Austria, he led Slovakia’s Alex Molcan 6-4, 5-0 in a best-of-three-sets match.

He would drop seven straight games to lose the second set, and then lost the third in a (seven-point) tiebreaker.

The Australian Open features the 10-point super tiebreaker, only in the third of three-set qualifying matches.