Learner Tien Steals the Show in Toronto as…

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Learner Tien has had a lot of firsts during his maiden full year on the ATP Tour. He qualified for his first Grand Slam main draw at the Australian Open and defeated former U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev en route to reaching the fourth round. He upset then-World No. 2 Alexander Zverev in straight sets in Acapulco. He recorded impressive victories over Top 10 players Ben Shelton and Andrey Rublev earlier this summer.

And on Tuesday night, in front of a packed crowd at Sobeys Stadium, the 19-year-old American dashed the hopes of hometown hero Denis Shapovalov with a topsy-turvy 7-6(4), 7-5 win to advance the third round at the 2025 National Bank Open presented by Rogers. It’s the latest highlight in a breakout season for the two-time former junior Grand Slam finalist, who has risen nearly 200 spots in the rankings in the last 12 months.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs already so far, I would say — at least it feels like there's been,” Tien said of his season thus far. “I feel like I'm going [to] new places; playing new tournaments, new players for the first time. There are good streaks and bad streaks. Fortunately, I can forget about the bad streaks and try and enjoy the good weeks as much as I can.”

“This [week] is my first time actually getting a hardcourt Masters [1000] win too,” he added, “so it's been a great week so far.”

Coming into his first career meeting with Tien, No. 22-seeded Shapovalov was hoping to continue to ride the wave of form that had catapulted him to the ATP 250 title in Los Cabos a couple weeks ago. The Canadian certainly got off to a strong start, using his flat groundstrokes to force errors out of Tien and to jump ahead to an early break. But as the set progressed, Shapovalov began to get tight. A couple double faults while serving for the set at 5-3 allowed Tien to break back.

The American simply played the bigger points better, taking advantage of more loose errors from Shapovalov to eke out the opening set in a tiebreak. In the second set, just when it appeared that he was beginning to gain the upper hand, Shapovalov faltered again under pressure, failing to consolidate both of his breaks of serve and ultimately losing his last service game from 40-0 up.

Tien, to his credit, remained solid throughout, refusing to give Shapovalov any free points.

“It didn't feel like he outplayed me in any of those games; it was me missing,” said Shapovalov, who admitted to not feeling entirely comfortable on the Centre Court in Toronto due to the swirly conditions. “When I commit to playing aggressively and going for it, I have to stay true to myself, and sometimes it's going to happen like this. Sometimes I'll have weeks like Los Cabos, and sometimes it will be like this. So, yeah, I think I did everything right today, [but I] just need to be a little bit sharper in serving for the sets next time.”

Tien first got a taste of playing against a partisan crowd earlier this year, when he faced off against rising Brazilian star Joao Fonseca in Miami. This time around, Tien was able to feed off of the crowd’s energy, essentially subduing them in the process. But the American seems to feel right at home north of the border.

“Toronto's been great, actually. I'm staying in the city downtown. It's a very nice spot. There's lots of good food around. It's not super different from the U.S. from what I've seen,” said Tien, who was born and raised in California to Vietnamese Chinese parents. “The crowd and everything was super fun. I like those atmospheres where everyone gets into the match. It's an extra factor that adds to the match, so I think it's really fun. I don't really mind who they were really cheering for, but it just makes the match a bit more exciting.”

He added of his experience with fans in Toronto, “Everyone's really nice. Everyone seems like they like tennis. Everyone's pretty into it. It's been great. I feel like the fan engagement is very high, and there's a good energy around the grounds. It's been really cool.”

The ATP's best return to Toronto this summer for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers July 26 to Aug. 7, 2025 at Sobeys Stadium. 2025 Tickets are on sale. Get your tickets today!

Feature Photo : Peter Power