By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer
MELBOURNE, Australia — Irvine’s Learner Tien is the youngest man to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals in 11 years, and the youngest American man to go so far in a Grand Slam event since 2002.
And he didn’t have to go the distance again with three-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev to get there.
The 20-year-old Tien had a 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 win over Medvedev on Sunday (late Saturday night PT), a year after a second-round, five-set upset over the 2021 U.S. Open champion.
Tien’s breakthrough run at a major ended in the fourth round in Australia last year.
The left-hander has already gone one better, becoming the youngest man since Nick Kyrgios in 2015 to make it to the last eight at Melbourne Park and he’s the youngest American to do so since Andy Roddick at the 2002 U.S. Open.
His road will get tougher, with No. 3 Alexander Zverev, the runner-up in Melbourne last year, up next. Zverev beat Francisco Cerundolo, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, his first straight-sets win in the tournament.
Tien had a problem with his nose and needed a medical timeout for tissues and treatment after the third game, causing a seven-minute pause in the match. It didn’t slow him down.
“Feels amazing. So special to do it, especially here,” Tien said. “This is a big goal for me this year. I’m just super happy.”
He had the bulk of the crowd on Margaret Court Arena on his side, including dozens of fans wearing what are known locally as L Plates – signs that are mandatory for learner drivers and have a black L printed on a yellow background.
“Every year since I’ve been coming here, the crowd support is amazing,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
The quarterfinal match against Zverev is going to be “a super tough match,” he said.
“I was able to get him the first time we played. The second time, he beat me pretty bad,” Tien said. “He plays great tennis here, he’s the defending finalist. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”
ALCARAZ CRUISES
No sooner had Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over Tommy Paul, than attention turned to his serve.
The top-ranked Alcaraz, in Australia trying to complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 22, has been remodeling it a little bit.
It worked well for him on Sunday (Saturday night PT) in a 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 victory over 19th-seeded Paul. There were no double-faults, he got 70% of his first serves into play and won 79% of those points. He also won 68% of points on his second serve.
The retooled start of his service motion has a familiar look, and hasn’t escaped the attention of Novak Djokovic. The 24-time major winner joked earlier in the tournament that he had sent Alcaraz a message asking for a copyright fee.
Alcaraz was asked about it in an on-court TV interview on Rod Laver Arena, and played along, too.
“Yeah. I heard that. I have the contract over there but I haven’t seen him yet!” the Spaniard said of his exchange with Djokovic.
Expanding on the theme, he said when videos of the service motion emerged in the preseason he checked on his phone and had a message from Djokovic which, more-or-less said: “Alright, you have to pay!”
Alcaraz said the locker room jokes keep it fun. Seeking an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title, Djokovic has been blocked in the last two years by Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who have split the eight titles evenly.
One missing element on Alcaraz’s tennis CV is a trophy at Melbourne Park. He has never gone past the quarterfinals. He’ll face local favorite Alex de Minaur in the last eight this coming week. De Minaur dominated No. 10 Alexander Bublik, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
Paul reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2023, so had that in his favor going into the fourth-round match with Alcaraz.
The pair were going shot for shot in the first-set tiebreaker when a medical episode paused their match for more than 14 minutes.
It was 3-3 when chair umpire Marija Cicak informed them that a spectator at Rod Laver Arena needed urgent medical attention.
The delay lasted so long that the players got to hit up again for a couple of minutes before play resumed, and after the spectator had been helped away from the arena by medical and ambulance staff.
Alcaraz was always in front after that. He broke serve in the pivotal 10th game of the third set and finished off the match in 2 hours and 44 minutes.
The pair hugged at the net, Alcaraz did a little dance move on the court to entertain the crowd, and then applauded the 28-year-old American as he walked off the court.
“Overall, a really high level of tennis from both sides,” Alcaraz said. “Really happy I got it in straight sets.”
Alcaraz said he was aware of his service stats and, in a kind of humble brag, added “Yeah, it’s impressing myself to be honest” across his first four matches at Melbourne Park.
“After every set I try to check it out – checking on the screens,” he said. “In general, I think the four matches that I’ve played (here) the serve has been an important weapon for me.”
DJOKOVIC ADVANCES ON WALKOVER
Djokovic received a walkover into the quarterfinals after Jakub Mensik withdrew 24 hours ahead of their scheduled fourth-round match with an abdominal injury.
The tournament confirmed Mensik’s withdrawal late Sunday. The match had been scheduled for Rod Laver Arena on Monday night.
“After last couple of matches, I started to feel worse, and actually the problem is my abdominal muscle on the left side,” Mensik said in comments published by the tournament. “Like I said, last few matches it got significantly worse, and I think if I would step on the court tomorrow, it would be such a big risk for me for my next weeks, for my next tournaments, and actually for my health.”
The 16th-seeded Mensik beat Ethan Quinn in straight sets on Saturday.
Djokovic has won the Australian Open a record 10 times.
The 24-time major winner became the first player to reach 400 wins in Grand Slam singles when he beat Botic van de Zandschulp, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4), on Saturday night in the third round of the Australian Open.
SABALENKA, GAUFF ADVANCE
TikTok influencer and top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka is having to work her way through some rising teenage stars in her bid for a third Australian Open title in four years.
Sabalenka held off 19-year-old Vicky Mboko, 6-1, 7-6 (1), at Rod Laver Arena to advance to a quarterfinal match against 18-year-old Iva Jovic.
The 29th-seeded Jovic overwhelmed Yulia Putintseva, 6-0, 6-1, in 53 minutes at John Cain Arena – with six service breaks and winning the first 10 games – to secure a spot in the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time.
“Obviously, she’s No. 1 for a reason and had so much success at this tournament,” Jovic said of Sabalenka. “But that’s what I want – I said it last year, I hope to be able to play her this year, because you definitely want to play the best and see how it goes.”
Coco Gauff, who was still a teenager when she won her first major title in 2023, is back into the quarterfinals in Australia for the third consecutive year after a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 19 Karolina Muchova. In a good omen for Gauff, her four previous wins over Muchova have been during runs to the title, including in the semifinals at the 2023 U.S. Open.
Jovic has been getting some good advice from Djokovic during the tournament. He said he’s been happy to help an up-and-coming star with Serbian heritage.
Jovic made it clear last year that she wanted a chance to play the World No. 1. Now she’ll get that chance.
Sabalenka, who has joked about waiting for a formal invitation to partner Djokovic in mixed doubles at a major, breezed through the first set in 31 minutes against Mboko but had some difficulty in the second.
Mboko saved match points and played well enough to beat many players, but not the two-time Australian Open champion.
“What an incredible player for such a young age,” Sabalenka said of Mboko. “It’s incredible to see these kids coming up on Tour. I can’t believe I say that. I feel like I’m a kid!
“She pushed me so much, and I’m happy to be through,” Sabalenka added in her on-court TV interview.
Sabalenka led the second set 4-1, and then failed to convert three match points while leading 5-4. Mboko slowly took momentum and forced a tiebreaker only for Sabalenka to dominate.
It was the 20th straight tiebreaker victory for Sabalenka.
“I try to – not to think this is a tiebreak and play point by point,” said Sabalenka, who won back-to-back titles in Australia in 2023 and ’24 before losing last year’s final to Madison Keys. “I guess that’s the key to consistency.”
Sabalenka said playing the morning match at Melbourne Park came with some challenges, including shadows and bright sun.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like to play the first match, but the tricky part, at some point the sun goes right into your serve point. It’s kind of like tricky. You can break the serve,” she said. “That’s what actually happened. Two breaks that she got, it was on the side when I was facing the sun. Yeah, I didn’t deal that good with the serve. She did an incredible job serving on that side.”
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