Sebastian Ofner thought he had won his second-round qualifying match…
When Nishesh Basavereddy’s forehand went long at 6-4, 4-6, 6-6 (6-1), Ofner lifted his hands in the air in celebration.
The Austrian thought he was in to the third round of qualifying, but soon realised the mistake he had made.
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Ofner hadn’t realised he needed 10 points to win the tiebreaker.
Continuing on, Ofner earned himself another match point, but failed to convert, as Basavareddy secured the comeback win, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11).
Reacting to his blunder, the world number 131 took to social media after the match.
Sebastian Ofner reacts to his error vs Nishesh Basavareddy
Posting on his Instagram story, Ofner shared his thoughts on the mistake.
“S— happens,” he said.
The mistake will likely haunt Ofner for quite some time, but was he at fault?
Well, it’s not a new rule, and the 29-year-old has been around long enough to know better.
However, the umpire usually reminds players when they require 10 points to win a tiebreaker, and it’s unclear whether Ofner was told this time around.
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Ofner has now failed to advance from Australian Open qualifying on six occasions.
He has yet to win a main draw match Down Under.
Sebastian Ofner’s Grand Slam performance timeline
| Grand Slam | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
| Australian Open | – | Q1 | Q2 | Q1 | Q1 | – | Q3 | 1R | – | Q2 |
| French Open | – | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q1 | 1R | 4R | 3R | 2R | – |
| Wimbledon | 3R | Q1 | Q1 | – | Q3 | Q3 | 1R | 1R | 3R | – |
| US Open | Q1 | Q2 | Q1 | – | Q1 | Q2 | 2R | 1R | 1R | – |
Sebastian Ofner’s Grand Slam record
| Grand Slam | Best performance | Win/Loss record | Win % |
| Australian Open | 1R – 2024 | 0-1 | 0% |
| French Open | 4R – 2023 | 6-4 | 60% |
| Wimbledon | 3R – 2017, 2025 | 4-4 | 50% |
| US Open | 2R – 2023 | 1-3 | 25% |
The former world number 37 will now rest up ahead of the ATP 250 event in Montpellier, which he has entered as a qualifier.
Qualifying for the 2026 Open Occitanie is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 1.
What else is happening in Australian Open qualifying?
Ofner’s error will dominate the headlines today, but there’s plenty more action taking place around the grounds.
With the second round of matches complete, 32 players require just one more win to reach the main draw.
16 of these 32 men will join the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in the 2026 Australian Open main draw.
Qualifying round three matches
- Jaime Faria (Portugal) vs Marco Trungelliti (Argentina)
- Arthur Gea (France) vs Daniel Vallejo (Paraguay)
- Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France) vs Nicolai Budkov Kjaer (Norway)
- Michael Zheng (USA) vs Lukas Klein (Slovakia)
- Giulio Zeppieri (Italy) vs Rei Sakamoto (Japan)
- Mackenzie McDonald (USA) vs Liam Draxl (Canada)
- Alexander Blockx (Belgium) vs Jason Kubler (Australia)
- George Loffhagen (Great Britain) vs Nishesh Basavareddy (USA)
- Elisa Ymer (Sweden) vs Coleman Wong (Hong Kong)
- Stefano Travaglia (Italy) vs Dane Sweeny (Australia)
- Kimmer Coppejans (Belgium) vs Zachary Svajda (USA)
- Yibing Wu (China) vs Tristan Boyer (USA)
- Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) vs Francesco Maestrelli (Italy)
- Dino Prizmic (Croatia) vs Arthur Fery (Great Britain)
- Rafael Jodar (Spain) vs Luca Van Assche (France)
- Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (Belgium) vs Martin Damm (USA)
There are some highly-rated youngsters in that line-up, including Next Gen Finals participants Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, Alexander Blockx, Basavareddy, Dino Prizmic, and Rafael Jodar.
Qualifiers are usually expected to lose in the first few rounds of Grand Slams, but at the Australian Open, that’s not always the case…
Just five years ago, Russia’s Aslan Karatsev embarked on an incredible campaign Down Under, having won his three qualifying matches.
The Russian beat Gianluca Mager, Yegor Gerasimov, Diego Schwartzman, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Grigor Dimitrov as he qualified for his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal.
Eventually falling in straight sets to the legendary Novak Djokovic, Karatsev had made a name for himself in Melbourne.
He went on to win three career titles and reached a career-high ranking of 14th in the world.
Only time will tell if any qualifiers can replicate Karatsev’s success at this year’s Australian Open.
The 2026 Australian Open main draw starts on Sunday, January 18.
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