Alexander Zverev has a high level of respect for his upcoming opponent at the Australian Open, who he describes as being a rising star ‘flying under the radar’ on Tour.
The 2025 runner-up moved into the last eight at Melbourne Park with a routine 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in a match where he only dropped serve once and hit 35 winners. Zverev has become the first German man in the Open Era to reach the last eight of the tournament for a fifth time in his career. Overall, he is through to his 16th Grand Slam quarter-final.
Cerundolo is the first player in the tournament that Zverev has beaten in straight sets. In his three previous matches against Cameron Norrie, Alexandre Müller and Gabriel Diallo, he dropped a set. Awaiting him in the next round will be 20-year-old Learner Tien, who is making a name for himself as a youngster to watch out for.
“Learner is a great player. He’s very young and up and coming,” said Zverev.
“I have massive respect for him. He’s very under the radar. He’s the same age as some other young guys and they are talked about more, but I think he’s the one that performs right now.
“I have huge respect for him and the work he’s doing.”
Tien is the youngest player to reach an Australian Open quarter-final since Nick Kyrgios in 2015. In his fourth round match, he produced a highly impressive display to brush aside former world No.1 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0, 6-3. At one stage of the match, he won 11 games in a row. Tien is the first player to bagel the 29-year-old Russian in a Grand Slam match.
“He played great, super-aggressive. Even when I was making good shots, he was making a better shot back. I didn’t find many solutions on the court, which is rare, and I didn’t feel that many times in my life like this.” Medvedev said after playing the youngster.
“He had an unbelievable match where everything went in.”
Tuesday’s clash will be the third time Zverev has played his American rival on the Tour since the start of 2025, with their head-to-head currently split at 1-1. Zverev won their clash at the French Open but lost their only hardcourt encounter in Acapulco.
Looking ahead to the showdown, Tien says he is relishing the challenge of facing Zverev as he closes in on a place in the top 20. He is currently 24th in the live rankings.
“I was able to get him the first time we played and then the second time we played he beat me pretty badly,” said Tien.
“It’s going to be a really tough match. He plays great tennis here. He’s the defending finalist here.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
Zverev is eight years older than Tien.
