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Huge shock in Australia: Last year's finalist OUT after nearly five hours

"I just had to pee so bad, so I was trying to finish it up fairly quick", said Learner Tien after beating Medvedev.

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A huge shock in Melbourne! Daniil Medvedev, finalist from last year's Australian Open, losing to Jannik Sinner, is already out from the 2025 edition! The current World No. 5 (he was no. 1 in 2022) has been kicked out after an epic 4 hour 18 minutes match against World No. 121 Learner Tien.

Tien, only 19 (Medvedev is 28), born in California to Vietnamese parents, started like a juggernaut, winning the first two sets, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and even getting a match point... before Medvedev came back and won the third set in the tiebreak, 6-7(8). The Russian player seemed posed to do what Rafa Nadal did to him three years ago, in the 2022 Australian Open final, when Nadal came back from two sets and went on to win the match.

The fourth set was an easy victory for Medvedev, 1-6. But Tien saved strength for a fifth set, that reached another long tiebreak: 7-6(10-7).

"Honestly in the fourth set I just had to pee so bad, so I was trying to finish it up fairly quick. But I also wanted to start the fifth serving, so I scrapped that game at 0-5, and it all worked out", said Learner Tien. His strategy paid off, and the local crowds couldn't believe it.

Medvedev is out after two rounds, and Zheng Qinwen, also World no. 5 in WTA, was also eliminated yesterday.

Huge shock in Australia: Last year's finalist OUT after nearly five hours
Australian Open

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