“Either way, just really happy to get a win. I know I made it a lot harder than maybe it could have been … but, whatever!”
In the third-set tiebreaker, the young southpaw had a match point but Medvedev snuffed it out with an ace and Tien appeared so deflated after the Russian took the set that it felt no surprise when he was outplayed comprehensively in the fourth. There looked no way back.
Daniil Medvedev lets his emotions out during his second round match.Credit: AP
But Tien smiled afterwards. The reason for his poor performance in that penultimate stanza was actually all down to an urgent need for a bathroom break.
“Losing the third set in a tiebreak was tough, I had match point, and it was a little bit disappointing to see a fourth set,” explained Tien, the son of Vietnamese parents.
“But honestly in that fourth set, I just had to pee so bad, so I was just trying to finish it up fairly quick,” he added, reducing the crowd to laughter.
“I also wanted to start the fifth serving, so I scrapped out that game and it all worked out.”
Learner Tien, 19, caused a massive upset by ousting Medvedev. Credit: AP
It was the match of the championship, an extraordinary, fluctuating contest that, surreally, even got interrupted at 2.30am by a six-minute rain stoppage at the most critical juncture with Tien serving at 5-5, 15-all in the decider.
When they returned, Medvedev broke to serve for victory at 6-5, but Tien went for broke against the overly conservative Russian, breaking back immediately and then, after trailing 6-4 in the match breaker, taking victory two hours after his first match point.
“I’ve no idea what time it is but I’m sure it’s really late. Thanks, you guys, for staying out here,” smiled Tien, after winning six of the last seven points and watching Medvedev float one final return over the baseline that sealed his fate.
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“I wasn’t trying to think of the match as anything more important than any other match I’ve ever played. I was just going to go out there, have fun, see what I could do,” shrugged Tien later, as he chomped on a pepperoni pizza as his early-hours reward.
“It (the pizza) was either going to be celebratory or a binge-y, like, cope.
“It feels better it’s more celebratory, for sure.”
With AP
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