‘Unbelievable’: Aus Open’s late night king dethroned in ‘bonkers’ 3am scenes

Daniil Medvedev usually loves a late-night marathon match, but the tables were turned on him in the longest match of the Australian Open.

Three top ten players have now been knocked out by teenagers in the early stages of the Australian Open, cracking the men’s draw open.

Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev was the latest victim of a teen sensation when he was beaten by left-handed American qualifier Learner Tien in a marathon five-setter on Tuesday night.

Three of the five sets went to tiebreaks and after a rain delay, the match finished at 2:55am local time in Melbourne.

Medvedev pulled off a superb backhand volley while serving for the match in the fifth set, but Tien fought back to win 6-3 7-6 6-7 1-6 7-6.

The match got underway at around 10pm and lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes, the longest of the tournament so far.

But while Medvedev usually comes out of late night marathon matches on top, the American 19-year-old won through to the third round.

“Honestly in the fourth set, I just had to pee so bad … I was just trying to finish it up fairly quick,” Tien said post-match.

It comes a year after Medvedev came back from two sets down to defeat Emil Ruusuvuori at 3.39am, the third latest finish in Australian Open history.

That’s a heck of a long match. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP)

Learner Tien beat the Australian Open’s late night king. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP)-

Tennis commentator Jose Morgado described Tien’s victory as “incredible” and “unbelievable”.

The upset means three top 10 seeds have been knocked out by teenagers in the first and second rounds at the Australian Open.

Brazil’s Joao Fonesco defeated Andrey Rublev (9th seed) before losing to Lorenzo Sonego in the second round.

Jakob Mensik beat Casper Ruud (6th seed) and Tien sent Medvedev (5th seed) packing early.

All three youngsters played in last month’s ATP NextGen event in a sign men’s tennis has plenty of emerging talents.

11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas also lost his opening round match in a surprise result.

Grigor Dimitrov (10th seed) retired hurt in his first round match, so Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur are the remaining top 10 seeds still in the draw.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev was emotive as ever. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP)

Medvedev pushed through another late night five-setter. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP)

After the loss to Tien, Medvedev skipped his post-match press conference, and who could blame him after finishing so late.

Learner Tien d. Medvedev is a bonkers result. That Tien lost sets 3, 4 and wins in a 5th set breaker makes it all the more remarkable...Great theater. Great event for kids. (Rough event for No.5 seeds. )

— Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim) January 16, 2025

Daniil Medvedev in matches that ran 4 hours 18 minutes or longer:

Loss to Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam final
Win
Loss to Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam final
Win
Win
Loss to 19-year-old Learner Tien

— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) January 16, 2025

Incredible first week at the #AusOpen:

All the three top 10 players that lost complete matches (Dimitrov retired) were beaten by teenagers.

19yo Tien d. #5 Medvedev
19yo Mensik d. #6 Ruud
18yo Fonseca d. #9 Rublev pic.twitter.com/S4DwyJYVhR

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 16, 2025

One of Tien, Lorenzo Sonego, Fabio Marozsan, and Corentin Moutet will make the quarterfinals from their section of the draw.

A massive win from the USA’s Learner Tien. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP)

After being pushed to five sets by Thailand’s Kasidit Samrej in the first round, Medvedev said his opponent’s future was bright in a typically rogue on-court interview.

“I know that I play better when I play more tennis, so I was like, why play 1hr 30?” he joked.

“I need a minimum three hours at least to feel my shots better, to have a good sensation.

“No, but really, second and third set, I couldn’t touch the ball!”

“If he plays like this every match, his life can be good. Money, girls, casino, whatever if he plays like this every match. “If he doesn’t then he’s not gonna have it. Maybe not in tennis, he’s gonna make it otherwise!”

Novak Djokovic joked in his on court-interview after winning in the second round: “In the wise words of Mr Daniil Medvedev, if the future generations plays this way, they’re going to have everything — money, girls, casino.

“I just love that statement, I had to say it.”