Vietnamese-American tennis player Learner Tien continued his rise in 2024 with another Challenger Tour championship.

18-year-old Vietnamese-American tennis star Learner Tien has made history after defeating Bernard Tomic 6-0; 6-1 in the final of the Fairfield Challenger tournament which took place in the early morning of October 14, Hanoi time.

Accordingly, Learner Tien created the shortest final ever at the Challenger Tour level when he only needed 39 minutes to “blow away” Bernard Tomic. The old record belonged to former tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga when he defeated Dudi Sela 6-1; 6-0 in 43 minutes in the final of the Challenger Cassis tournament (France) in 2019.

Tien completely dominated the game against Tomic in the Challenger Fairfield championship match thanks to his versatility in playing style and quality serves. Tomic, once known as the “Bad Boy” of Australian and world tennis, was highly regarded in the early years of his career before fading due to a lack of attitude and determination, which was clearly shown in the confrontation this morning when he almost “gave up” under pressure from his young opponent on the other side of the battle line.

After being given a bagel (0-6) in set 1, Tomic finally got the first point in the second game of set 2, and that was all the Australian player could do in this match.

Learner Tien is having a very successful 2024 season with a strong leap in the world rankings, currently in the top 150. He has won 3 Challenger titles this year: Cranbrook Tennis Classic in July, Las Vegas in September and most recently Fairfield. At the ATP Tour level, the young Vietnamese tennis player also left his mark when reaching the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 Winston Salem Open.

With the current momentum, the day Learner Tien is in the top 100 and receives more attention from tennis fans around the world will not be far away.