By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, January 22, 2026
Photo credit: Australian Open Facebook
The lines on the blue Kia Arena Court resembled tracks today.
The Tien Train rolls on.
Twenty-year-old Learner Tien, the youngest man still standing in this Australian Open draw, defeated Nuno Borges 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-2 charging into the AO fourth round for the second straight year.
Absorbing Borges’ pace, Tien redirected drives into the corners in a confident two hour four-minute triumph.
“I’m super happy, I actually played my third round last year on this court, so I love playing on this court,” Tien said. “I mean a really physical match, especially the first set. A super long set so that was really big for me to get that first set.
“Thankfully I was able to carry that momentum the rest of the match.”
Last year, Tien made a Melbourne Park statement. Playing through qualifying, Tien stunned Daniil Medvedev and Corentin Moutet to become the 12th qualifier to reach the AO fourth round since 1988.
Tien was on track for a round of 16 rematch vs. Medvedev, however Fabian Marozsan has taken the first two sets from the three-time finalist. The winner of that match will meet Tien.
Based on the court savvy, competitive calm and precision Tien played with today, he should go into that fourth round match fully confident of reaching his first major quarterfinal.
Though Tien is listed at 5-foot-11, 160 pounds he continues to solidify his status as a tennis giant killer, improving to 7-5 lifetime vs. Top 20 opponents. Coached by former French Open champion Michael Chang, Tien competes with the grit and guts reminiscent of the Hall of Famer and seldom looked stressed against Borges today even when matters got tight.
Mixing in a rare slice backhand down the line, Tien drew an errant backhand scoring his second straight break for a 4-1 second-set lead. It was Tien’s third break in Borges’ last five service games.
Tien spun a sharp slice wide to set up a forehand winner down the line extending his lead to 5-1 after 80 minutes. Borges, who had been missing some forehands, made a mini-run to close to 4-5.
On his second shot at serving out the set, Tien moved the ball corner to corner then cranked a forehand strike down the line for a two-set lead after 96 minutes.
Tien showed his creativity on the stretch wrapping a return around net post return that helped break for a 1-0 third set lead.
A sharp Tien shoveled a forehand drop shot winner to end it, signing the courtside camera “R4 again!”