Learner Tien’s breakout week in Beijing has continued an impressive debut season that began with a bang at Australian Open 2025.
The American teenager, who stunned Daniil Medvedev in a five-set classic at Melbourne Park in January, reached his first tour-level final at the China Open last week.
The fact this milestone came at ATP 500 level was even more impressive, and it was a campaign that featured another win over Medvedev, and yet another against a top-10 opponent – this time world No.8 Lorenzo Musetti.
Tien’s quarterfinal win over Musetti improved his record against top-10 players to 5-2, more wins against members of this elite group than any man in 2025 besides Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
World No.2 Sinner ultimately ended Tien’s run in the final with a decisive 6-2 6-2 victory, yet the future remains extremely bright for the AO 2023 boys’ singles finalist.
"I was very impressed with him. I saw the Medvedev match [at AO 2025],” former doubles world No.1 John Fitzgerald said on this week’s episode of The Tennis.
"He's going to be a great addition to the men's tour. He already is.
"He is going to have to continue to improve, and I could see how someone with the power of Sinner might just overpower him a little bit.
"But under pressure, against Medvedev, that was a classic. A young kid who could stand up to five sets, late at night, under pressure, and beat someone who'd been in a couple of Australian Open finals, was very, very impressive.
"I'm so interested in where he goes over the next sort of 24-36 months.”
Tien, who began 2025 ranked world No.122, has since soared to 36th in the ATP rankings.
After qualifying for the Australian Open and reaching the fourth round – a run of six consecutive match wins – he later reached tour-level quarterfinals in Acapulco, Mallorca and Hangzhou, then beat four straight top-25 opponents en route to the Beijing final.
Emerging is a picture of the ultimate big-match player, one who elevates their game against the world’s best.
In 2025, the 19-year-old is winning 70 per cent of long rallies (9+ shots) against top-10 opponents while converting 48 per cent of break-point chances against the same group – 10 per cent higher than the tour average.
His forehand has also increased in speed since 2023, and he will be hoping new coach Michael Chang can help develop his serve, which is currently 20km/h slower than the tour average.
Against Musetti and Medvedev in Beijing, you could see evidence of Tien’s attritional qualities. After dropping the first set against both, he recovered to win the second set and took a commanding lead in the third before both Musetti and Medvedev retired.
Tien’s other top-10 wins this season have come against Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton and Andrey Rublev.
"I find those stats quite amazing, that he can perform better against the better players,” Fitzgerald said.
“That's not normal. What that tells you is that when the big moments arrive, it looks like he's got what it takes.”