Australian Open: US qualifier Learner Tien stuns Daniil Medvedev in five-set thriller
Student Ten, a 19-year-old qualifier from California, became the youngest American man to reach the third round of the Australian Open since Pete Sampras in 1990, upsetting a racket-throwing Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6, 6 -7. 1-6, 7-6 in a thrilling match that started on Thursday evening and ended in the early hours of Friday in Melbourne.
The four-hour, 49-minute match had a bit of everything, including a six-minute rain delay that interrupted play shortly before 2:30 a.m., with Tien serving at 5-5 in the fifth set. When play resumed, Medvedev broke and served for the match at 6–5, but Tien refused to relinquish, broke back and forced the closing first-to-10 tiebreak, which he won shortly before 3am. His victory came about two hours after he failed to convert his initial match point.
The result raised eyebrows due to the large gap in experience and performance between the two players at the Margaret Court Arena. Tien is ranked 121 in the world and had a career grand slam record of 0-3 before this week; Medvedev was seeded No. 5, won the 2021 US Open and has been the runner-up at Melbourne Park in three of the past four years, including 12 months ago.
“I was definitely hoping it wouldn’t go to a fifth set breaker… It was definitely harder than it might have been, but anyway,” Tien said, then told the crowd, “I appreciate you all enormous.” guys who stay here. I know it’s late. I have no idea what time it is.”
Due to the time difference, the match ended around 8 a.m. Thursday morning at Tien’s home in California, and he grabbed the microphone to speak directly to his family.
“I don’t know if my parents are still watching. …I love you guys. Thank you for always supporting me from all over the world,” Tien said. ‘I know you would like to be here. I wish you could be here too.’
The left-handed Ten played fearlessly and almost flawlessly for stretches, surprisingly gaining the upper hand from lengthy exchanges at the baseline. In the first two sets, he won 32 of 51 points that lasted nine or more strokes, even coming out on top with one set that took 45 shots and another that lasted 32 strokes.
Tien only blinked when he reached the abyss of by far his most important victory, with a match point in the third set tiebreak when he was 7-6 ahead. But Medvedev erased that with a 125mph ace and finally converted his third set point just after 1am, easily pushing things into the fifth set.
Medvedev conceded a point in the third set, showing the same signs of frustration that led him to destroy a net camera with his racket during a surprisingly difficult five-set first-round victory.
After being broken to a 4-3 deficit in the second set when Tien delivered a lob that landed on the baseline – not the only time he did that against his 6-foot-4 opponent – Medvedev threw his equipment to the sideline . In other moments of anger, Medvedev hit a ball against the back wall, toppled a camera and punched his racket bag. He also expressed his displeasure at being called for two consecutive foot faults, resulting in a double fault, during the second set tiebreak.
This was Medvedev’s first tournament of the season – his wife recently gave birth to their second child – and he has never shown his best tennis. As he often does, the 28-year-old Russian changed tactics in an attempt to change the momentum, regularly moving to the net early in the third set.
Some mistakes by Tien resulted in a service break and a 4-3 lead for Medvedev in that set. But Tien broke back immediately and held on for a 5-4 lead after Medvedev scored a point.
Tien reached two junior grand slam finals in 2023, at the Australian and US Open, and played a semester of college tennis in Southern California before turning pro.
He turned 19 last month and is the youngest man from the United States to advance this far at the Australian Open since 18-year-old Sampras reached the fourth round in 1990. Sampras won the US Open later that year for the first of his fourteen Grand Slam singles titles.