Daniil Medvedev dug deep to avoid a repeat disappointment against Learner Tien on the hard courts of China with a dramatic Wednesday-night win at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The 29-year-old recovered from a bout of cramp late in the second set to overcome #NextGenATP American Tien 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-4 in an engrossing encounter at the ATP Masters 1000 event. Just eight days after Medvedev was forced to retire from the deciding set of the pair’s semi-final in Beijing due to cramp, the former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings was this time able to ward off his physical struggles and rouse a late charge to victory.
Meddy’s Moment! 👏@DaniilMedwed outlasts Tien (7-6 6-7 6-4) in an EPIC encounter to advance into the Shanghai quarter-finals@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasterspic.twitter.com/Ah3jbLrNUs
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 8, 2025
“I think the toughest part was that we played two times [before], and in my opinion he is an unbelievable player, because he doesn’t have a great serve and serve is so important in tennis," said Medvedev. "Without the serve, he is 19 years old and 30-something in the world and only going up. In my opinion he is such a good tennis player.
“He feels the game so well. There are so many guys right now that just hit strong with every ball they have, and they have an amazing serve which allows them to stay in the tennis match. He doesn’t have it, and he manages to play so good without it. For me to beat him… I thought I was going to lose. I was cramping again and I’m just super happy to manage to do it.”
In a topsy-turvy two-hour, 53-minute encounter, Medvedev failed to serve out the first set at 5-4 before prevailing in a tie-break, and then carved out a 3-0 lead in the second. Yet Tien roared back and won the second set in a tie-break during which Medvedev was nearly completely immobilised due to the cramps in his right leg.
The 2019 Shanghai champion Medvedev appeared out of contention at that point, but his body loosened after the changeover between sets and he produced some typically robust tennis into the decider. Despite regularly chuntering to himself in a frustrated fashion throughout, Medvedev decisively broke serve in the ninth game before serving out to earn his first victory in three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with the 19-year-old Tien.
All three of Medvedev and Tien's meetings have proven dramatic. At the Australian Open, Tien prevailed in a five-set thriller that ended just before 3 a.m. local time, while the pair's Beijing and Shanghai clashes have been dominated by Medvedev's battles with his body.
Now into his third Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season (Indian Wells, Madrid), Medvedev will next face seventh seed Alex de Minaur, who earlier defeated Nuno Borges 7-5, 6-2 to book his spot in the last eight.
