American teenager Learner Tien outlasted three-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev to reach the third round with a 6-3 7-6(4) 6-7(8) 1-6 7-6(7) victory in a late-night epic on Thursday.
Qualifier Tien’s hopes seemed to be fading after fifth seed Medvedev saved a match point with an ace in the third set tie-break as the Russian stormed back from two sets down to set up a decider on Margaret Court Arena.
But the 19-year-old left-hander tapped into his last reserves of energy and came up with some dazzling tennis to deliver the biggest shock so far in Melbourne and become youngest American man to reach the third round at the Australian Open since Pete Sampras did so aged 18 in 1990.
“I mean, I was definitely hoping it wasn’t going to go to a fifth set breaker, Tien, who was born in California to Vietnamese parents, told the crowd who stayed for the climax of the four hour 49-minute contest that ended at nearly 3am local time.
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“Either way, I was just really happy to get a win. I know I made a lot harder than maybe it could have been. But you know, whatever.”
Tien had lost in the opening round in his first three Grand Slam appearances but marked his Australian Open debut by beating Camilo Ugo Carabelli in five sets to line up a clash with Medvedev.
Named after his teacher mother’s profession, Tien had all the answers against one of the most wily players in the sport as he schooled Medvedev for most of the opening three sets.
He reeled off five successive games to take the opening set from 3-1 down and showed incredible tactical awareness and clinical precision as he kept a rather passive Medvedev at full stretch during a second set littered with service breaks.
Tien failed to close out the set when serving at 6-5 but snatched the tie-break with an ice-cool forehand winner.
Any question that he might start flagging against one of the sport’s most durable competitors were answered in the third set as he recovered from dropping serve to move into another tie-break in which he saved a set point before having a match point, only for Medvedev to crack down ace.
It looked like a pivotal moment as Medvedev took the third set and sped through the fourth with Tien finally appearing to be suffering physically.
Medvedev looked clear favourite in the decider but world number 121 Tien courageously stayed with the Russian in a series of gruelling rallies that grew ever more intense.
After a brief rain delay at 5-5, former US Open champion Medvedev served for the match at 6-5 but Tien refused to go away and broke back to send the contest into a first-to-10 breaker.
Again it looked as though Medvedev would survive to fight another day as he moved 6-4 ahead but the fearless Tien won six of the last seven points, clinching a memorable victory on his first match point as a weary Medvedev floated a return long.
Asked whether he had deliberately handed up the fourth set to save energy, Tien offered an unusual explanation.
“Honestly, in the fourth set, I just had to pee so bad,” he said. “I was just trying to finish it up fairly quick, but I also wanted to start serving in the fifth so I scrapped out that game at 0-5, and it all worked out well.”
Tien is the youngest American to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since Donald Young at the 2007 U.S. Open and his adventure will continue for at least another round against Frenchman Corentin Moutet on Saturday.
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