With the clock ticking towards 3am on Friday, the Californian teen, who had looked practically down and out after the fifth seed made one of his trademark comebacks, found remarkable reserves to pull off a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (8-10) 1-6 7-6 (10-7) triumph in 4 hours and 49 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.
A healthy-sized, if bleary-eyed crowd, stayed on, transfixed by the drama as Medvedev, the king of late-night finishes who had indulged in a sport of racquet-chucking and grumbling earlier in the match, finally met his match in the never-say-die world No.121.
"Honestly in the fourth set, I just had to pee so bad... I was just trying to finish it up fairly quick." 😂— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) Learner Tien • #AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/CPeFvEeXcyJanuary 16, 2025
"I was definitely hoping it wasn't going to go a fifth-set breaker," smiled Tien, who had only won his first ever grand slam match a couple of days earlier but now becomes the youngest American man to reach the third round at the Australian Open since an 18-year-old Pete Sampras in 1990. .
"But either way, just really happy to get a win. I know I made it a lot harder than maybe it could have been but...whatever!"
In the third-set tiebreak, the young southpaw saw a match point come and go and he appeared so deflated by his near-miss that it felt no surprise when he was then outplayed comprehensively by Medvedev in the fourth. There looked no way back for him.
But Tien smiled afterwards that the reason for his poor performance in that penultimate stanza was actually all down to an urgent need for a bathroom break.
"Losing the third set in a tiebreak was tough, I had match point, and it was a little bit disappointing to see a fourth set," he explained.Â
"But honestly in that fourth set, I just had to pee so bad so I was just trying to finish it up fairly quick," he added, reducing the crowd to laughter.
"I also wanted to start the fifth serving, so I scrapped out that game and it all worked out."
It was the match of the championship, an extraordinary, fluctuating contest that, surreally, even got interrupted at 2:30am by a six-minute rain stoppage at the most critical juncture with Tien serving at five-all, 15-all in the decider.
The temperamental Medvedev hurled his racquet in disgust earlier in his defeat. (AP PHOTO)
When they returned, Medvedev broke to serve for victory at 6-5, but Tien went for broke against his more conservative opponent, breaking back immediately and then, after trailing 6-4 in the first-to-10-point deciding breaker, taking victory two hours after he had initially held a match point.
"I've no idea what time it is but I'm sure it's really late. Thanks you guys for staying out here," smiled Tien, who only turned 19 last month, after he watched Medvedev float one final return over the baseline that sealed his fate.
