19-year-old Learnen Tien is making a name for himself at the beginning of the season! The young American earned notable victories at the Australian Open and Acapulco, writing new pages of tennis history.
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Tien stunned Daniil Medvedev in Melbourne. A teenager notched another high-profilewin in Acapulco this week, toppling world no. 2 Alexander Zverev in the second round. Thus, Learnen became the youngest American to have beatena top-3 victory since Andy Roddick in 2001.
Andy kicked off the 2001 season outside the top-155,passing120 rivals on the ATP ranking list by August. Roddick competed at the Canada Masters as world no. 35 and stunned world no. 1 Gustavo Kuerten 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 41 minutes in the third round.
The young gun lost a tight opener before bouncing back in set number two. Andy controlled the pace in the decider and sent the world's best player packing. Twenty-three and a half years later, another American teenager ousted someone from the top-3 company.
Tien defeated Zverev 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 28 minutes en route to his second top-5 win of the season. Learnen outplayed the third-time Major finalist on serve and return. The young gun dropped serve once and stole 41% of the return points.
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A teenager seized three of six break points and produced a notable comeback in set number two for a career-best win. Zverev struggled to impose his strokes. He sprayed too many forehand errors and trailed 48-24 from the baseline.
Tien denied two break points in the fifth game of the opening set and held in the seventh with an ace for 4-3. Alexander faced issues in game eight and played a couple of loose shots to fall 5-3 behind. Tien served for the set in game nine and drew the rival's mistake, wrapping up the first part of the duel in34 minutes.
The German saved two break points in the first game of the second set with winners. World no. 2 stepped in on the return in the fourth game and landed a drop shot winner for a break and a 3-1 advantage. Alexander landed a service winner in the next one for a hold at love and 4-1.
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Instead of building on that, the top seed lost the ground. Learnen closed the sixth game after a deuce and launched his comeback. Zverev missed his chance on serve in the seventh game and fell on the second break point after a forced error, bringing the young gun back to the positive side.
The American landed a service winner in game eight for 4-4. He created a break chance in game nine and welcomed the rival's forehand mistake to deliver his second straight break and open a 5-4 advantage. A teenager served for the win in game ten.
He painted a backhand down the line winner and generatedmatch points. Tienseized the second afterforcing Zverev'serror, sealing the deal in style and entering American tennis history books.
