Entering their round of 16 tussle on Day 8, Learner Tien and Daniil Medvedev had contested three matches, all of them going the distance. For Medvedev, who was riding an eight-match winning streak after starting the year with the Brisbane title, his fourth encounter with Tien went nowhere – fast.
Tien handed Medvedev his first ever 6-0 set at a major and ran away with a breezy victory, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 to become the youngest Australian Open quarterfinalist since Nick Kyrgios in 2015. The 20-year-old Southern California native is also the youngest American to reach the last eight in Melbourne since 1982, and the youngest American to reach the quarterfinals at a major since Andy Roddick in 2002.
“Feels amazing,” Tien said after improving to 7-1 lifetime in Melbourne, where he reached the round of 16 last year. “It’s always special for me to come back here and play, this was a big goal for me and I’m super happy.”
He did it in style, methodically moving Medvedev around the court like he was a piece on a chessboard.
Medvedev, who completed his fifth career comeback from two sets to love down in his third-round match against Fabian Marozsan, struggled to find a spark as runaway train Tien kept making the most of his opportunities.
Tien broke Medvedev in the opening game of the match and never trailed. The first set was reasonably close, but the American southpaw took over from there. He reeled off 11 games in a row to get to 6-4, 6-0, 4-0.
Medvedev finally got back on the board with a hold in the fifth game of the third set but it was far too little, far too late.
Credit Medvedev, there were signs of life as he broke and held again to close to 4-3 in the third, but Tien calmly held in the next game and went on the attack as Medvedev served to stay alive. A forehand pass down the line, followed by a volley pushed long by Medvedev gave Tien triple match point.
One went begging, but not the second, as Tien punched an incredible backhand pass to close the contest in one hour and 42 minutes.
Tien will face third-seeded Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. The pair have split two previous meetings, with Tien defeating the German at Acapulco last year, and Zverev returning the favor with a straight set win over Tien at Roland-Garros.
