Another Teen Rises in Melbourne, Medvedev Falls to the Tien Dream

The Absence of Technical Expertise, Particularly on the Batting Front, in the Coaching Staff Became a Talking Point During the Recent Tour of Australia.

- Shahid Judge

MUMBAI: A comment made in jest on Tuesday was nearly proven true on Thursday by Daniil Medvedev. The world No. 5 needed five sets to get the better of 418th-ranked wild card Kasidit Samrej of Thailand in their first-round match of the Australian Open on January 14.

"I know I play better when I play more tennis," Medvedev had quipped. "So why play one hour 30, I need minimum three hours to feel my shots better."

On Thursday, he came across 19-year-old American player Learner Tien, ranked 121 in the world. The youngster won the first two sets to put Medvedev on the backfoot. But true to what he had said on court days earlier, the Russian started to find his groove. He won a tight third set after saving a match point. He blazed through the fourth set.

Medvedev was coming back to his best. But when it came time to serve for the match, Tien was better.

Playing in the fifth set of a match for the second time in his fledgling career, Tien pulled off the upset of the tournament by beating former US Open champion and last year's Australian Open finalist 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(10-7).

"I was really hoping it wasn't going to get into the fifth set breaker, but either way, I'm really happy to get the win," Tien said in the on-court interview after the match at the Margaret Court Arena. "I know I made it harder than it could have been."

In a match that went on for four hours and 49 minutes, eventually finishing just short of 3 AM local time, both players struggled for consistency. Tien hit 53 winners to Medvedev's 52, while the unforced errors count had the American commit a whopping 79 to an even higher 82 from the Russian.

But when the chips are down and the accuracy wayward, Tien somehow finds a way to win, according to his coach Eric Diaz. In his first-round match, against Argentina's Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Tien hit 16 double faults-the equivalent of four games-but managed to win the match in five sets.