American Learner Tien has become the youngest male player to advance to the round of 16 at the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal, way back in 2005.

Nadal was still six months shy of his 19th birthday when he lost that match to Lleyton Hewitt, with the Aussie needing five sets to get beyond the teen prodigy after trailing two sets to one.

Hewitt would go on to lose the final that year to Marat Safin and we all know what Nadal would go on to do with the rest of his legendary career.

Fitting perhaps that on the 20th anniversary of that tournament a new star in Tien is born, with the 19-year-old setting up a fourth-round clash with Italian world No.55 Lorenzo Sonego.

From what we’ve seen so far from the young gun, it looks like a winnable match for Tien, so we may be talking about more history after that match on Monday.

“I don’t think I can start comparing myself to him but that is really cool,” Tien told the crowd of the comparisons to Nadal.