American teenager Learner Tien on Saturday grew to become the youngest male participant to succeed in the fourth spherical of the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal in 2005.
The 19-year-old southpaw beat unseeded Frenchman Corentin Moutet in straight units, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3, within the third spherical to arrange a fourth-round conflict with Italian veteran Lorenzo Sonego.
Tien’s win got here simply 36 hours after he ousted World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev within the second spherical, turning into the primary American teenager since Pete Sampras in 1993 to upset a top-five seed at a significant. With Saturday’s win, Tien additionally grew to become the second-youngest American man since Sampras to succeed in the spherical of 16 at Melbourne Park.
After his history-making feat, Tien stated he was humbled to be talked about in the identical vein as Nadal and Sampras.
“It feels nice,” Tien stated, via ATP Tour. “This exceeded my expectations from what I hoped for coming into this week. You go into each match believing you possibly can win however being within the second week is superb. I do not assume I can begin evaluating myself to Nadal now, however that’s actually cool.”
As is effectively documented, the US hasn’t produced a male grand slam champion since Andy Roddick gained the 2003 U.S. Open. Final 12 months, Taylor Fritz grew to become the first American in 15 years to succeed in the ultimate of a significant on the 2024 U.S. Open.
Will Tien be the person to finish the 22-year drought? In addition to Tien, 20-year-old Alex Michelsen and World No. 20 Ben Shelton additionally gained their third-round matches. The trio joined World No. 11 Tommy Paul because the 4 Individuals nonetheless alive within the males’s attract Melbourne.
Paul will face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina within the fourth spherical. A day later, Shelton, Michelsen and Tien might be in motion in opposition to Gael Monfils, Alex de Minaur and Sonego, respectively. Because it stands, there are good odds of at the very least two Individuals reaching the quarterfinals on the first main of the 12 months.
