Teenage qualifier Learner Tien surprised final 12 months’s Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev in an epic Melbourne match that started Thursday night time and ended within the wee hours of Friday.
The 19-year-old qualifier from California grew to become the youngest American man to achieve the Australian Open’s third spherical since Pete Sampras in 1990.
Tien outlasted three-times Australian Open runner-up Medvedev with a 6-3 7-6(4) 6-7(8) 1-6 7-6(7) victory within the 4-hour, 49-minute contest.
The match had a little bit of the whole lot, together with – laborious to consider – a six-minute rain delay that interrupted play shortly earlier than 2:30 a.m. with Tien serving at 5-all, 15-all within the fifth set. When they resumed, Medvedev broke and served for the victory at 6-5, however Tien would not cede a factor. He instantly broke again to drive the concluding first-to-10 tiebreaker that he emerged to win shortly earlier than 3 a.m., about two hours after he didn’t convert his preliminary match level.
“Belief is a big thing in succeeding and winning, in general. I always go on the court believing that there’s a chance I can win,” stated Tien, who confirmed up at his news convention toting a white cardboard field with a pepperoni pizza. “I wasn’t trying to think of the match as anything more important than any other match I’ve ever played. I was just going to go out there, have fun, see what I could do.”
As for the post-match snack, he stated, “It was either going to be celebratory or a binge-y, like, cope. It feels better it’s more celebratory, for sure.”
The consequence was eyebrow-raising due to the broad gulf in expertise and accomplishments between the 2 gamers at Margaret Court Arena. Tien is ranked 121st and owned a profession Grand Slam file of 0-3 earlier than this week; Medvedev was seeded No. 5, received the 2021 U.S. Open and was the runner-up at Melbourne Park in three of the previous 4 years, together with 12 months in the past.
“It was definitely harder than maybe it could have been, but, whatever,” Tien stated on the courtroom proper afterward, then informed the group: “I really appreciate all you guys staying out here. I know it’s late. I have no idea what time it is.”
Because of the time distinction, the match ended at about 8 a.m. on Thursday morning again house in California, and Tien took the microphone to talk on to his household – he stated he hoped they have been tuned in on TV.
“I don’t know if my parents are still watching… I love you guys. Thank you for always supporting me from across the world,” Tien stated. “I know you guys wish you could be here. I wish you could be here, too.”
The left-handed Tien performed fearlessly and nearly flawlessly for stretches, surprisingly getting the higher of prolonged exchanges on the baseline: Across the primary two units, he received 32 of the 51 factors that lasted 9 or extra strokes, even popping out on high on one which went 45 pictures and one other that lasted 32.
Tien was a degree from successful whereas main 7-6 within the third-set tiebreaker. But Medvedev erased that with a 122 mph (196 kph) ace and finally transformed his third set level at a bit of previous 1 a.m.
Medvedev was penalized a degree in that set whereas displaying the identical types of indicators of frustration that led him to destroy a tiny digital camera hanging within the web by smacking it along with his racket throughout a surprisingly tough, five-set, first-round win in opposition to an opponent ranked 418th.
After getting damaged to path 4-3 within the second set when Tien delivered a lob that landed at a baseline – not the one time he did that to his 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) foe – Medvedev chucked his gear towards the sideline, skidding it throughout the courtroom till it reached an promoting panel close to his bench.
At different moments of anger, Medvedev hit a ball in opposition to the again wall, toppled a digital camera behind a baseline and punched his racket bag. He additionally voiced displeasure about being known as for 2 consecutive foot-faults, leading to a double-fault, through the second-set tiebreaker.
This was Medvedev’s first match of the season – his spouse just lately gave beginning to their second little one – and the 28-year-old Russian by no means actually displayed his finest tennis.
Tien reached two junior Grand Slam singles finals in 2023, on the Australian Open and U.S. Open, and performed one semester of school tennis at Southern California earlier than turning professional that 12 months.
He turned 19 final month and is the youngest man from the United States to get this far on the Australian Open since an 18-year-old Sampras reached the fourth spherical in 1990. Sampras received the U.S. Open later that 12 months for the primary of his 14 Grand Slam titles.
This match was the most recent vital consequence for a teen in Melbourne this 12 months.
Tien joined Joao Fonseca of Brazil and Martin Landaluce of Spain as the primary trio of youngsters to qualify for the boys’s bracket at a serious since Wimbledon in 2017. And then Fonseca, who beat No. 9 Andrey Rublev, and Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who defeated No. 6 Casper Ruud, grew to become the primary pair of teenagers to beat top-10 males on the similar Grand Slam match since Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray at Wimbledon in 2006.
Now Tien makes it three. He known as what Fonseca and Mensik did “definitely pretty inspiring.”
Tien subsequent faces France’s 69th-ranked Corentin Moutet.
Source: www.dailysabah.com