An American tennis star celebrated her Australian Open win too early and had to pause to laugh at her mistake

• World No. 11 Danielle Collins won a three-set Australian Open thriller that came down to a tiebreak.
• Upon going up 7-3 in the tiebreak, the American star dropped her racket and threw her hands up triumphantly.
• The umpire then informed her that she was celebrating too early, as they were playing to 10.

Late-night chaos struck an American star in the second round of the Australian Open.

World No. 11 Danielle Collins climbed back from a set down in a drawn-out battle against Karolína Muchová in Wednesday's final game of the night session. By the time the third set — knotted at six games apiece — came down to a tiebreak, Margaret Court Arena was already emptying out.

It was, after all, past 1 a.m. in Melbourne. And Collins, who said "usually I go to bed pretty early" during her on-court interview following the match, was surely feeling the fatigue that accompanies a long match stretching into the wee hours of the morning.

So when Collins won a point to go up 7-3 in the tiebreak, relief washed over her face as she dropped her racket and raised her arms triumphantly. Game, set, match, she thought.

But she thought wrong.

A few years ago, tennis' Grand Slams changed their rules. If a match ended with a third (or fifth, for men) set tied at six games apiece — as Collins and Muchová's bout had — the decisive tiebreak goes to 10 points, not the usual seven.

So as Collins waved to the crowd and walked towards the net to shake hands with her opponent, the chair umpire geared up to deliver the tough news; the match wasn't over yet, and she still needed three more points to clinch the victory.

The 29-year-old couldn't help but smile and chuckle at her extremely public mistake, and the fans who remained on site laughed along with her. After a beat, she walked back to the line and prepared for her serve.

—Wide World of Sports (@wwos) January 18, 2023

Six points later, the match was — truly — hers.

"I was a little embarrassed," Collins said of the error in her post-match interview. "I guess I just never had to play a tiebreak in the third set of Grand Slam before, so I really thought the match was over."

"I just told myself, 'Well at least you didn't face plant on the floor,' you know?'" she added with a laugh. "I was just trying to keep things in perspective, but yeah, I mean. Uhhhhhh."

—Wide World of Sports (@wwos) January 18, 2023

Collins is through to Round 3, where she's set to face world No. 25 and reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. The match kicks off Thursday at 10 p.m. ET, or 2 p.m. Friday local time.