Daniil Medvedev barely escaped Fabian Marozsan in the third round of the Australian Open. But the trickiness only continues because Medvedev is set to face a familiar opponent next. A rising American star who’s proven to be one of his toughest opponents in recent times: Learner Tien.

Tien, who had a breakout season last year, leads their head-to-head rivalry 2-1 after stunning the Russian in Melbourne Park and surpassing him in Beijing after Medvedev was forced to retire. The 2021 US Open champion is in for another tough battle, and he knows it all too well.

“The thing is that I kind of don’t like to play him, but he must hate to play me as well because, I mean, all our matches, I was serving for the match or something. It’s long, brutal rallies, etc.,” he said in his post-match presser.

Their last meeting in Melbourne Park devolved into a five set slugfest (6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (8-10) 1-6 7-6 (10-7)) that lasted for nearly five hours, ending at 2:30am. Medvedev, the 2024 finalist, entered as the clear favorite versus Tien, who had never won a Grand Slam match before that week. But this time, it’s the Russian who’s hoping to spring a surprise.

“I’m going to enjoy it because it’s going to be a lot of shot making, a lot of good defenses from both of us, some passing shots, etc. So, I’m going to try to enjoy the game of tennis and, of course, try to do my best to maybe surprise him somewhere,” continued Medvedev.

Now ranked world No. 29, Tien’s 2025 season featured a number of upset wins over the top 10, including Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, and Medvedev. Though he’s shown the expected inconsistency of a young player, Tien’s elite defense, shot-making abilities, and returns are enough to give any player a headache when he’s on his game.

The advantage, according to Medvedev, is that this time there won’t be any room for underestimating Tien. This time, Medvedev will be ready and well versed in dealing with the American’s rhythms, and vice versa. After all, Medvedev did win in their last meeting in Shanghai.

“I didn’t enjoy our matches last year in terms of how tough it was and he beat me two times in the brutal matches, but I beat him last time and so now I know who he is. I know how he plays. He knows how high I play. So, we kind of pretty much know what we’re going to do already,” said Medvedev.

Tien might not have the best service game, but the 20-year-old has more than just his energetic youth in his bag. He has great patience for his age, is exceptional at playing defense and more importantly, he is an intelligent player. The American youngster knows exactly who stands before his fourth round appearance.

Learner Tien gets honest about playing against Daniil Medvedev after last year’s win

Beating Medvedev at the Australian Open last year was Tien’s first big achievement in his tennis career. He celebrated just like any teenager would: he entered the postgame press conference with a box of pizza in his hand.

While he was celebrating, the long rallies and the five brutal hours on court had taken their physical toll. But the American was happy, and he will be looking to relive that moment the second year in a row.

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“I was really tired. Obviously, really happy. I remember my leg was hurting really bad,” he said after his third round win. “But yeah, I remember just being really happy. I don’t know; my mind was in a million places, but mostly happy.”

Like his Russian counterpart, Tien also recognizes the scale of the challenge this time around. Daniil Medvedev is a seasoned player, looking for redemption. Beating him again will take more than it took last time.

“We’ve played three times. I mean, all of them have been wars. I think he served for the match all three times,” Tien added. “I think we both make a lot of balls. We both don’t give up too many free points. I think naturally that makes the rallies very long, games very long. We both don’t make it easy on our opponents. So, naturally, we’re not making it easy on each other.”

It’s a question of experience vs. youth. And perhaps Tien will look to capitalize exactly on that.