They call the Australian Open the \u2018Happy Slam\u2019, and that\u2019s certainly been the case for young American Learner Tien, who is back in the third round at the opening major of the year.<\/p>\n
Twelve months ago the 20-year-old \u2013 at the time ranked No.121 in the world \u2013 qualified and then stunned three-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev in a deciding set tiebreak in a match that finished at nearly 3am Melbourne time<\/a>.<\/p>\n The left-hander from California went on to reach the fourth round during a season that saw him finish runner-up at the very strong ATP 500 in Beijing, win his first trophy in Metz and end the year with the Next Gen ATP Finals silverware in Jeddah.<\/p>\n Now ranked No.29 in the world and seeded 25th, Tien is back in the third round<\/a> after beating Alexander Shevchenko 6-2 5-7 6-1 6-0 at ANZ Arena on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Tien, coached by 1996 finalist Michael Chang, next plays Portugal\u2019s Nuno Borges before a potential rematch with Medvedev in the last 16 on Sunday.<\/p>\n The American showed his sense of humour earlier in the week when he was asked whether he\u2019d watched many of Chang\u2019s matches. \u201cThere’s not that much video from way back then,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n Wednesday saw the start of second-round matches in the top half of both singles draws, with world No1s Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka in action at Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n Alcaraz came through a 78-minute first set<\/a> before finishing a 7-6(4) 6-3 6-2 winner against Germany\u2019s Yannick Hanfmann, who proposed to his girlfriend Sofie at the nearby Red Bluff Lookout prior to the event.<\/p>\n Alcaraz, who will play Frenchman Corentin Moutet on Friday, revealed he\u2019s been playing golf with Roger Federer during his off days, describing the Swiss star\u2019s skills on the fairway as \u201cbeautiful\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two-time champion Sabalenka continued her smooth progress through the draw<\/a> by overpowering Chinese qualifier Zhuoxuan Bai 6-3 6-1. The recent Brisbane champion has now won a staggering 45 of her last 50 sets at the Australian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n There will be no meeting with Britain\u2019s Emma Raducanu in the third round for Sabalenka though, after the former US Open champion became the only seeded casualty in the women\u2019s draw on Day 4<\/a>, losing to Anastasia Potapova 7-6(3) 6-2.<\/p>\n It was generally a stress-free day for the players towards the top of the WTA rankings with Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, Mirra Andreeva, Elina Svitolina and Victoria Mboko all among those into the third round.<\/p>\n Gauff looked almost perfect<\/a> during a 6-2 6-2 passage against Serbia\u2019s Olga Danilovic, while Andreeva needed little over an hour<\/a> to fire past Greek former world No.3 Maria Sakkari 6-0 6-4.<\/p>\n After taking the Auckland title during her AO 26 build-up, Svitolina has now won all seven of her matches this year, including Wednesday\u2019s 7-5 6-1 success over young Pole Linda Klimovicova<\/a>.<\/p>\n Canadian talent Mboko went through in two sets<\/a> 6-4 6-3 against American Caty McNally to set up a meeting with 14th seed Clara Tauson, and No.7 seed Paolini won a rain-interrupted match late in the day<\/a> against Magdalena Frech.<\/p>\n It was a similar story for the top seeds in the men\u2019s draw too, although home hope Alex De Minaur had to fight hard early on<\/a> before frustrating Serbia\u2019s Hamad Medjedovic 6-7(5) 6-2 6-2 6-1 under the RLA lights. American Frances Tiafoe, a four-set winner over Argentina\u2019s Francisco Comesana<\/a>, awaits in an intriguing third-round clash.<\/p>\n Brand new ATP top 10 player Alexander Bublik continued his perfect start to the season<\/a>, winning 7-5 6-4 7-5 against Hungary\u2019s Marton Fucsovics to back up his recent run to the Hong Kong title. The Kazakh is six for six for the season.<\/p>\n Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev all needed four sets to move into the round of 32<\/a>, with Rublev revealing his magic formula during his days off in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cIce bath and then coffee, sleep, coffee, sleep, practice and sleep,\u201d he told on-court interviewer Colin Fleming after beating Portugal\u2019s Jaime Faria.<\/p>\n