- World No 121 beats No 5 seed 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6
- Californian seals victory just before 3am in Melbourne
Learner Tien, a 19-year-old qualifier from California, became the youngest American man to reach the Australian Open’s third round since Pete Sampras in 1990, upsetting a racket-tossing Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6 in a thrilling contest that began on Thursday night and ended in the wee 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 2.30am 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 cede, broke back, and forced the concluding first-to-10 tiebreaker, which he emerged to win shortly before 3am. His victory came about two hours after he had failed to convert his initial match point.
