As the saying goes, “it’s not finished until the scoreboard says so”.
Trouble was, Sebastian Ofner was sure the scoreboard said so, only for his tiebreak trip-up to cost him dearly against Nishesh Basavareddy in Australian Open qualifying on Wednesday.
A match tiebreak was required to separate the two in the second-round stoush, and a bewildered Basavareddy knew his hopes were still alive despite having slipped 1-7 behind on the scoreboard.
MORE: All the scores from qualifying at AO 2026
Spare a though for Ofner, who promptly lifted his arms and strolled to the net in apparent triumph after he reached seven points first, only for the chair umpire to inform him it was first to 10.
Eight of the next nine points went the 20-year-old Basavareddy’s way and took him to match point, before he fended off two and converted on his second opportunity 4-6 6-4 7-6[11].
“I knew there was still some time … In a super [match] tiebreak, you always have a chance, so I kept believing,” Basavareddy said.
“After I won that next point [at 1-7] I was like – generally when that happens, you start overthinking like, ‘oh, I thought I already won the match, through to the next round’. So yeah, that definitely gave me a little bit of hope.
"I saw him tense up a little bit, but the balls were quite old there, so every rally was a war and that was my main focus, just to put as many balls in play.”
The American’s new coach Gilles Cervara, the Frenchman who previously guided Daniil Medvedev to world No.1 and a US Open trophy, carefully jotted down notes on a large A4 notebook throughout.
The page set aside for the match tiebreak learnings must have been a jumbled mess by the end of it.
Having only been on board since December, this was only the second match in the partnership – a perfect if contrasting two wins from two following a first-round straight-sets ledger over Li Tu.
“After he split with Daniil, obviously I was looking for a coach at the end of last year to start traveling with me and I reached out to him,” Basavareddy said. “I thought it would be potentially interesting to work with him and he was open to it, which I was really excited about …
“It's only been a month so far, but he's really keen on the details – on the court, off the court with the fitness and everything. So I think that's been one huge thing so far that I've already learned a lot from.”
A return to the main draw would be a positive turn on a relatively barren season following the highs of a maiden ATP semifinal in Auckland and his Grand Slam debut against 10-time champion Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena.
While he had practised with the Serbian great prior to that 2025 showdown, it was a different ordeal entirely squaring off at a Grand Slam.
“I've always said his serve, I think that that surprised me the most,” he said. “He had a lot of aces in that match and I didn't get many returns back in play.
“In big moments he was able to come up with a big serve, so I think that was the thing that surprised me the most. But of course, how he just improved his level over the course of the best-of-five match is also impressive.”
Victory over the Austrian on Wednesday booked a final-round qualifying showdown against Brit George Loffhagen.
MORE: AO 2026 men's qualifying singles draw
Basavareddy knows the score. Best-of-three in qualifying, best-of-five should he reach the main draw.
And if required, a 10-point match tiebreak regardless.
Fortunately, there were no such premature celebrations at Kia Arena when 19-year-old Nikolai Budkov Kjaer was first to reach seven points in his match tiebreak against Australian James McCabe.
While the Norwegian admitted cramps had started to creep in, he stayed the course to complete a 4-6 6-3 7-6[6] victory.
It moved the 2024 junior Wimbledon champion to the final round of qualifying against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
One of six players to claim a season-leading four ATP Challenger titles last year and a semifinalist at the season-ending Next Gen ATP Finals, Budkov Kjaer paid tribute to countryman Casper Ruud’s example.
“At the early stages my idol was Roger [Federer], and then it kind of grew into being more of Casper because of his flag, I guess,” Budkov Kjaer said.
“Casper has shown that I can maybe believe that it's possible from a small country to achieve big stuff and to do it on the biggest stages.
“He hasn't said so much mentally, but like, kind of proven with his game, how it's possible.”
It was a strong day for other Next Gen ATP players, including Belgians Gilles Arnaud Bailly – who upset 16th seed Roberto Carballes Baena – and former junior champion Alexander Blockx.
Another former junior champion, Rei Sakamoto, also advanced, as did Croatian Dino Prizmic, Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong, Spain’s Rafael Jodar and Portugal’s Jaime Faria.