American teenager makes incredible history at Australian Open

Tien's win came just 36 hours after he ousted World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in the second round, becoming the first American teenager since Pete Sampras in 1993 to upset a top-five seed at a major. With Saturday's win, Tien also became the second-youngest American man since Sampras to reach the round of 16 at Melbourne Park.

After his history-making feat, Tien said he was humbled to be mentioned in the same vein as Nadal and Sampras. 

"It feels great," Tien said, via ATP Tour. "This exceeded my expectations from what I was hoping for coming into this week. You go into every match believing you can win but being in the second week is amazing. I don't think I can start comparing myself to Nadal now, but that is really cool."

As is well documented, the United States hasn't produced a male grand slam champion since Andy Roddick won the 2003 U.S. Open. Last year, Taylor Fritz became the first American in 15 years to reach the final of a major at the 2024 U.S. Open. 

Will Tien be the man to end the 22-year drought? Besides Tien, 20-year-old Alex Michelsen and World No. 20 Ben Shelton also won their third-round matches. The trio joined World No. 11 Tommy Paul as the four Americans still alive in the men's draw in Melbourne.

Paul will face Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the fourth round. A day later, Shelton, Michelsen and Tien will be in action against Gael Monfils, Alex de Minaur and Sonego, respectively. As it stands, there are good odds of at least two Americans reaching the quarterfinals at the first major of the year.