Learner Tien against Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open: It's deja vu in Melbourne

Learner Tien reached the third round of the Australian Open a year ago, beating Daniil Medvedev in a match that lasted five sets and almost five hours.

It's deja vu in Australia.

A year later, the left-handed Tien is up against Medvedev again in Melbourne, this time on Sunday in a fourth-round match.

The 20-year-old is aiming for a similar result, which would mean a berth in the quarterfinals.

Medvedev dropped the first two sets to beat Fabian Marozsan in five on Friday, the fifth time at a Grand Slam event he has won from 0-2 down. Medvedev won 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3.

“I think it's pretty crazy that we end up playing here again a year later,” Tien said after beating Nuno Borges 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2 to advance in the Australian Open.

None of this is new for Tien as he again bids for the quarterfinals in Australia.

After beating Medvedev last year, Tien went on to lose in the fourth round against Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, denying him a place in the quarters.

The Tien-Medvedev match in Australia a year ago ended about 2:30 a.m. It was so late that Tien arrived at the news conference with a pepperoni pizza for an early morning, pre-dawn snack.

“I remember just being really happy,” he said Friday. “My mind was in a million places.”

Unbelievably, this will be the fourth time the two have faced each other, and Tien holds a 2-1 edge. They also split in a pair of ATP Tour matches in China in 2025.

“We've played three times. I mean all of them have been wars,” Tien said.

Tien described himself as an improved player from a year ago, which is reflected in being seeded No. 25 in the tournament. Medvedev is No. 11 and, with a U.S. Open title in 2021 and runs to the final three times in Australia, has a deeper resume. Although the 29-year-old Russian is only getting back into his groove now after first-round exits at the three other majors last year.

“I think just getting to play more matches at this level has been really big for me,” Tien said. “Just getting out there and experiencing these different matchups that I haven't had before, having to work my way through the ups and downs has been huge for me.”

Though he might relish a quick match, the up-and-coming Californian said he's not expecting one.

“We both don't give up too many free points,” Tien said. “I think naturally that makes the rallies very long, the games very long. We both don't make it easy on our opponents. So, naturally we're not making it easy on each other.”

The prospect of rematch was a kind of inspiration for Medvedev, who noticed only after he'd dropped two sets that Tien had already advanced to the next stage.

“Usually I don’t look on TVs or something. This time I glimpsed,” he said. “I thought, if I win this one, it’s going to be five sets. It’s going to be very tough, and then I have Learner."

And he knows that'll be a long and grinding match.

“The thing is that I kind of don’t like to play him, but he must hate to play me as well,” he said. "All our matches ... it’s long, brutal rallies. There’s going to be a lot of shot-making, a lot of good defenses from both of us, some passing shots, et cetera.

“I’m going to try to enjoy the game of tennis. Of course, try to do my best to maybe surprise him somewhere.”

AP Sports Writer John Pye contributed from Melbourne, Australia.

Daniil Medvedev of Russia plays a backhand return to Fabian Marozsan of Hungary during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Daniil Medvedev of Russia cools himself down during his third round match against Fabian Marozsan of Hungary at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Learner Tien of the U.S. plays a forehand return to Nuno Borges of Portugal during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Nuno Borges of Portugal plays a backhand return to Learner Tien of the U.S. during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Learner Tien of the U.S. celebrates after defeating Nuno Borges of Portugal in their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years on the platform now used by more than 200 million Americans.

The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app.

President Donald Trump praised the deal in a Truth Social post, thanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping specifically “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” Trump add that he hopes “that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”

Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok's head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.

The deal ends years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company.

“China’s position on TikTok has been consistent and clear," Guo Jiakun, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing, said Friday about the TikTok deal and Trump’s Truth Social post, echoing an earlier statement from the Chinese embassy in Washington.

Apart from an emphasis on data protection, with U.S. user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok's algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users specific videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on U.S. user data, the company said in its announcement.

The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But the U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties — specifically the algorithm — with ByteDance. Under the terms of this deal, ByteDance would license the algorithm to the U.S. entity for retraining.

The law prohibits “any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm” between ByteDance and a new potential American ownership group, so it is unclear how ByteDance's continued involvement in this arrangement will play out.

“Who controls TikTok in the U.S. has a lot of sway over what Americans see on the app,” said Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University.

Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX are the three managing investors, each holding a 15% share. Other investors include the investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies. ByteDance retains 19.9% of the joint venture.

Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)