MELBOURNE, Australia — Learner Tien, a 19-year-old qualifier from California, became the youngest American to reach the third round of the Australian Open since Pete Sampras in 1990, beating racquet-throwing Daniil Medvedev. We defeated them 6-3, 7-6. (4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(10-7) Little time on Friday in a game that started Thursday night and ended on the 12th.
The competition lasted 4 hours and 49 minutes and was incredibly all-inclusive. Tien served at 5-all, 15-all in, due to a six-minute rain stoppage just before 2:30 a.m. Fifth set. When the match resumed, Medvedev came from behind to win 6-5, but Thien gave nothing and fought back to force a final 1-10 tiebreaker that came just before 3 a.m. to secure the victory. Hours after he failed to convert an early match point.
“In general, belief is a big factor in success and winning. I always go on the court believing I can win,” said Tien, who showed up at the press conference carrying a white cardboard box with a pepperoni pizza. “I wasn’t trying to think of this game as being more important than any other game I’ve played. I was just going to go out there and have fun and see what I could do.”
As for post-game snacks, he said: “Either you’ll have it as a celebration or you’ll binge it.” “It definitely feels better to celebrate,” he said.
The result raised eyebrows at the Margaret Court Arena as the gap in experience and achievement between the two players was wide. Tien is ranked 121st and had a Grand Slam record of 0-3 before this week. Medvedev is seeded fifth, won the 2021 US Open and has finished runner-up at Melbourne Park in three of the last four years, including 12 months ago.
“It was definitely harder than it probably would have been, but whatever,” Tien told the crowd after speaking to the court shortly afterwards. It’s time.”
Tien’s upset over Medvedev is the biggest upset in the men’s draw via betting odds so far, as Tien closes as a +400 underdog according to ESPN BET odds. But the biggest upset so far in this year’s tournament came on the women’s side when Laura Siegemund, a +1100 underdog in ESPN BET odds, toppled fifth-seeded Zheng Qinwen in second-round play.
“I definitely hoped it wouldn’t go to a fifth set breaker. … It was definitely a lot harder than it was before, but whatever,” Tien told the crowd. “Thank you so much. I know it’s too late now.”
Due to the time difference, Gyeonggi returned to his California home around 8 a.m. on Thursday, grabbed the microphone and spoke directly with his family. He said he would like his family to watch it on TV.
Tien said, “I don’t know if my parents are still watching… I love them. Thank you for always supporting me from all over the world.” “I know you wish you were here. I wish you were here too.”
Left-handed Tien was fearless, stretched almost perfectly and surprisingly got the better of long exchanges from the baseline. In the first two sets, he won 32 of 51 points lasting 9 strokes or more and even took first place. One was shot 45 times and the other was shot 32 times.
Tien didn’t blink until he was on the precipice of his most important victory to date, holding match point in the third set tiebreaker to take a 7-6 lead. But Medvedev erased it with an ace at 122 mph, eventually converting a third set point just after 1 a.m. and then easily pushing into the fifth set.
Medvedev was penalized one point in the third set and showed the same kind of frustration he showed when he destroyed a small camera hanging from the net with his racket during a surprisingly difficult first-round match in the fifth set. The opponent is ranked 418th.
After falling behind 4-3 in the second set when Tien delivered a lob that landed on the baseline (it wasn’t the only time he did that to his 6-foot-6 opponent), Medvedev flung his gear toward the sideline and slipped. I lost. Cross the court until you reach the advertising panel near the bench. In another moment of exasperation, Medvedev hit the ball against the back wall, knocking over a camera behind the baseline and hitting the racquet bag. He also complained about double-faulting two consecutive foot faults in the second set tiebreaker.
This was Medvedev’s first tournament of the season and his wife had recently given birth to their second child. He never played his best tennis. As he often does, the 28-year-old Russian switched tactics to change things up, frequently advancing towards goal early in the third set.
A few mistakes by Tien led to a break in service and gave Medvedev a 4-3 lead in that set. But Tien struck right back and maintained a 5-4 advantage after Medvedev docked a point.
Tien reached two junior Grand Slam singles finals at the 2023 Australian Open and US Open, and played college tennis for a semester in Southern California before turning professional that year.
He just turned 19 last month, making him the youngest American to reach this far in the Australian Open since the now 18-year-old Sampras reached the fourth round in 1990. Sampras won the US Open later that year. It was the first of his 14 Grand Slam titles, which ranks him fourth among male players in tennis history. Tien Michelson and Alex Michelson are the first American male players under the age of 20 to reach the third round of a major tournament since 2003 or the Australian Open since 1990.
The Tien-Medvedev match was the latest significant result for the Melbourne teenager this year.
Thien joins Brazil’s Joao Fonseca and Spain’s Martin Landaluce as the trio of teenagers who qualified for the men’s singles major for the first time since Wimbledon in 2017. He was followed by Fonseca, who defeated No. 9 Andrei Rublev and Jakub Mencic of the Czech Republic. With his win over No. 6 Casper Ruud, he became the first teenager to beat a top 10 male player at the same Grand Slam tournament since Novak Djokovic. And Andy Murray did it at Wimbledon in 2006.
Now Tien makes three. He called what Fonseca and Mensik had done “obviously very encouraging.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.