19-year-old Learner Tien defeated Daniil Medvedev in a match that ended a little before three in the morning.
18:40•Updated 18:40
Last year’s finalist of the Australian Open tennis tournament and fifth in the world ranking Daniil Medvedev was eliminated in the second round of this year’s tournament. Medvedev was knocked out by a 19-year-old American ranked 121st in the world Learner Tian 6–3, 7–6, 6–7, 1–6, 7–6.
The match had many similarities to the match played exactly one year ago, where Medvedev won Emil Ruusuvuoren at the same stage in the second round of the Australian Open. Back then the match in Melbourne ended at 3:40 in the morning, now it ended a little before three in the morning.
Then Ruusuvuori won the first two sets, but Medvedev turned the match into a victory. Now Tien won the first two. Medvedev took the next two, and when he won the fourth set 6–1, many probably didn’t think Tien would rise again.
However, young Tien won the sixth round. There was another rain break in the fifth set when Tien served in a 5-5 situation. After the rain break, Medvedev broke Tien’s pass and was able to serve for the match winner. Tien broke back and won the ten-point tiebreak 10–7.