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.
“The kid’s a winner and he just finds different ways,” Diaz said to ATPTour.com. “When they have that type of day and you’re just double faulting, I think a lot of guys would probably let it get the best of them. He just stays really calm and just finds a way.”
He found a way late in the fifth set when Medvedev was serving for the match at 6-5.
For most of the match, Tien played percentage tennis more often than not by keeping the ball closer to the centre of court rather than find sharp angles. All that changed when his back was against the wall.
Medvedev’s big booming serve was returned with interest. The topspin shots had become flatter and more telling. Tien broke back immediately at 15 to take the contest into the match tiebreak.
Then down a mini-break, Tien chased down a volley placed deep on his forehand corner and played a stunning pass to level the scores. He then won three points on the trot to secure the match and book his spot in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
After his first round win, Tien had told ATPTour.com, “It definitely feels good to know that you found a way, even in not the most ideal circumstances that you would want. But it’s a good feeling, honestly, to problem solve and find a way through a match where you don’t feel your best, maybe, and you know things are going wrong.”
On Thursday, he problem-solved his way to the biggest win of his career. So far.