Otherwise, though, that’s it from us for now. But fear not: we’ll be back very soon with the daytime shift, starting roundabout midnight GMT. It’ll be a long eight hours without all this, but together we can get through it, i promise. Otherwise, though, peace out.

Righto, some of us – me included – might still not believe what we’ve seen. As such, here’s a report to that effect.

So the main stories today: well, until recently, the eliminations of Hubie Hurkacz by Miomir Kecmanovic and Francis Tiafoe by Fabian Maroszan were the biggest stories; there were wins for Iga Swiatek, Emma Navarro, Elena Rybakina, Ons Jabeur, Jasmine Paolini and Emma Raducanu; Katie Boulter lost; Holger rune beat Matteo Berrettini; Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur also won; and Jannik Sinner came back from a set down to beat Tristan Schoolkate. Oh yeah, and Learner Tien, a 19-year-old Vietnamese American, somehow beat Daniil Medvedev in a match breaker at the end of five of the most absorbing sets you’ll ever see. Phew, huh and wow.

Draper, meanwhile, has what should be an easier encounter against Aleksandr Vukic. He too played a five-setter in round two, knocking out the seeded Seb Korda, but Draper should have too much for him – though if he does win, Alcaraz awaits in round four.

I can’t wait to see how Fearnley does against Zverev. I mean, we know what’s likely to happen, but if he serves how he’s been serving and keeps the head as he’s been keeping it, he won’t make it easy.

I don’t know, I’m not sure i’ve ever said this is a superstar before, but I said it during Fonseca’s match with Rublev on Tuesday and I’m saying it again now. Learner Tien is a superstar.

“I’m not allowed to say that,” he replies when asked how 19-year-olds can get that good.

He’s really happy to win but reckons he made it harder than it needed to be, “But yeah, whatever.” Oh man, he knows this is him and it’s so moving to behold.

He advises that he couldn’t get a racket on the ace Medvedev served at match point in the third, then explains that in the fourth he was desperate for a pee, so wanted to get it done with, but also wanted to serve first in the decider. I guess he should’ve run harder to sweat it out; pathetic.

Finally, he’s asked about the next round – he’ll play Corentin Moutet – “that should be a fun match,” he surmises. Then he takes the mic, thanks the crowd for staying out and, wondering if his parents and family are still up, he thanks them for their support, and I’m fully gone. Imagine what they’ve sacrificed for this moment – or, indeed, not for this moment, just for their son – and how proud they are, not just of his talent, which is there, but the mentality and drive we saw on court, followed by the levity and integrity we’ve just enjoyed in interview.

Where Joao Fonseca did his thing in wiping Rublev off the court – one way of announcing yourself – Tien has done it the other way – finding a way to win after showing the full range of his brilliance. He sits in his seat and all he can do is laugh; I’m laughing with him, but not hard lest I cry. There’s little more moving than the flowering of youth, and this is that and then some. But enough from me, let’s hear from the boy of the moment!

That is just incredible. Learner Tien, aged 19, has beaten the number five seed, the former finalist, a US Open champ ,in five wondrous, inspiring, transcendental sets.

Learner Tien beats Daniil Medvedev (5) 6-3 7-6(4) (8)6-7 1-6 7-6(7)

Medvedev goes long and wide on the backhand! Tien leads 9-7, and here comes match point!

Ach, Tien goes long with a forehand again ceding the mini-break, but Medvedev is too tight with a volley, taking too much case not to send it out, and the kid runs it down before spiriting yet another forehand winner down the line for 7-7! And have a look! With Medvedev serving and again playing conservatively, Tien nails a backhand down the line then, as Medvedev just about gets it back, opens shoulders to annihilate a forehand into the opposite corner! He’s two points away, two holds way, and they’re coming up! Hold me!

Again, Tien nets, Medvedev now up 6-4, but there’s plenty in this yet and the kid dictates the next point, swinging a despicable forehand on to the line, then conjuring a drop that leaves Medvedev agape! That is, as my young daughter would say, “so slay”, and another long rally sees Tien hang tough, an error from Medvedev meaning it’s 6-6 as they change again. It’s 3.50am now, and this is not only the best tennis match I’ve seen in ages, it’s the best match I’ve seen in ages and the best anything I’ve seen in ages. Drink it in, people; this is why w’re here.

Stephen Hendry always says it’s not the big shots you make that decide a match, it’s the easy ones you miss, and Tien goes long with a slice, ceding the mini-break at 4-5. I hope that’s not the crucial point, but it might be.

These are not real people; these cannot be real people. Real people cannot charge about through another long rally at this point in proceedings, at this time of night, and yet here they are. It’s Tien who errs, going long, but a wide serve catches Medvedev and makes 4-4.

I want to type another hold for Tien because that’s what happens and i can hardly breathe, but I can’t ignore the lush forehand that brings it about … but then he nets when you don’t expect him to, and we change ends at 3-3.

Hello! At 1-1 in the breaker, yet another horrendous rally, then Medvedev nets and Tien has the first mini-break at 2-1. But then he finds a delicious, delectable slice-volley to seize it back immediately. Someone, please hold me.

Yes it does! A brilliant return, a brilliant backhand, a brilliant backhand! Learner Tien is brilliant! Tennis is brilliant! The world is brilliant! Here comes the match tiebreak at 6-6 in the fifth!

At 15-all, Tien spanks yet another backhand winner down the line, then Medvedev goes long! Two break-back points and does this match have anything left to amaze us?

Another long rally and Medvedev, a different man after the break, hauls a forehand on to the line; Tien can only net in response! Medvedev has the break and will now serve for an amazing match at 6-5 in the fifth!

Immediately, Medvedev uncorks a filthy forehand winner, then Tien strays long ceding two break-points in the process…

The rain has stopped and the court has been dried so off we go again: it’s 2-2 5-5 15-15.

What were you up to at 19? I was getting stabbed outside a club, which is, of course, all that stopped me from displaying my beautiful soul to amaze the world on a tennis court. We see excellent young players all the time – Jakub Mensik, for example, beat Casper Ruud what seems like last month but was, I think, yesterday. He may well go on to win majors too, but what’s different about Tien – and, indeed about Fonseca – is the impossibility of their game intelligence. They are going to win all sorts, and theirs could be the next great rivalry.

Gosh, it’s absolutely teeming, and this’ ll now take a while – we’ve to cover and dry the court while, all the while these two legends stiffen and tense.

Whaaaaaat?! With Tien serving at 15-all, it’s started to rain. How dare it! Does it not know what’s going on here?!

Are you kidding me! Tien goes down the line and Medvedev, back to court, legs akimbo, somehow invents a backhand that spins him round and passes Tien for a winner! I’ve never seen anything like that before and another gorgeous backhand follows, ending a 27-stroke rally from another position that’s in no calisthenic textbook. We’re level at 5-5 in the fifth!

Here comes Medevdev, and he sends a forehand down the line wide and plenty! But Tien twice nets forehands, the second time to end another rally that has me gasping for air, then another, and this time it’s Medvedev who blinks, thwacking a backhand wide! At 30-all, Tien is two points away!

Yet another beautiful winner down the line is backed up by a forehand cross-court, and does Tien look the stronger boy man now? I think he might, but at 40-15 he nets, the pressure upped … so he spans a service-winner down the T, and at 5-4 in the fifth he’s a game away! I absolutely love the way he plays – you can almost see his brain working, he’s thinking so hard, and yet at the same time he’s also so natural. Medvedev will now serve to stay in the competition!

Medvedev opens with an ace, then another, and Tien doesn’t move. But at 40-0, he doesn’t have to, punishing a forehand return down the line for yet another winner; find you someone who loves you as much as he loves that angle. But from there, Medvedev, though he makes a further error for 40-30, closes out for 4-4 and I’ve not a clue who’s going to win this. It’s an absolute ripper.

Somehow, Tien makes 30-15, and there follows a point so disgustingly physical i feel nauseous. Then, just as it looks like it might never end, Medvedev dredges a forehand winner from the depths of his soul … before a brilliantly cunning backhand from Tien, inventing an angle to break the sideline, earns him game-point. So a further long exchange unfolds, Medvedev hits wide, and the kid leads 4-3!

During change of ends, let’s take a moment to reflect o exactly what we’re seeing, because we shouldn’t become blasé. These two have been going more than five hours now, and the drive, love, suffering and imagination it takes to do that is something beyond the comprehension of the rest of us. I am in awe. But back they come, Tien making 0-15 before an ace and a service-winner give Medvedev the advantage, and from there he quickly closes out with a booming forehand winner down the line. He’s playing more aggressively now and looks to have assumed control … but we’ve said that before. It’s 3-3in the fifth.

My screen crashes, returning for me to see it’s 30-all and another freakishly long rally. Momentum shifts this way and that before Tien nets and break point is much shorter, Tien again netting. He still leads, 3-2 up in the fifth, but we’re back on serve.

Tien blocks back a forehand that lands close to the line, then a double makes 0-30. Pressure! For both! And again, Medvedev finds a telling serve when he needs one, high-kicking and out wide, before a lovely backhand, moving away from the ball, confuses everyone but him and that’s 30-all. But what’s this?! A rally, Tien moving nicely, and an error from Medvedev means break point! Another sapping, painful exchange follows, neither man going for too much … THEN MEDVEDEV GOES LONG! TIEN BREAKS MEDVEDEV FOR 3-1 IN SET FIVE AND HE’S THREE HOLD AWAY FROM A FAMOUS WIN!

The win-percentage-calculator has Tien at 24, which seems generous. But though the rallies are long, Medvedev isn’t sending him from corner to corner very often, so he’s not running that much or that hard. And at 15-0 a classic one-two, serve into one corner, forehand into the other, makes 30-0, and second later the love-hold is secure. I am in awe of what we’re seeing here, the desire and focus to keep at it equally as impressive as the more incendiary tennis of the first two sets. Medvedev isn’t paying that well, and Tien will, I’m sure, be fancying his chances more than 10 minutes ago; he leads 2-1.

Tien is moving better than in the fourth set but not as well as in the third, and he’s not giving out the same grief on second serve. So Medvedev makes 40-0 … but then a terrific return and long forehand give him something to ponder. Another revolting rally ensures, but then the youngster slices long and that’s 1-1 in the fifth.

You’d think Tien needs to try and hit winners, assuming his mobility isn’t what it was. He looks alright enough at the moment, playing his normal game, but the kind of forehand that was going in earlier on his just long now, handing Medvedev 30-all, then a slice also drops long. And I guess tennis is a mentally as well as physically sapping endeavour, the concentration that keeps balls in play fading alongside the ability to hit and run as hard. Still, Tien saves break point only to immediately face another; a brutally long rally unfolds, he sticks in it, and it’s Medvedev who blinks first, hitting long! Goodness me, I don’t know about them but I’m exhausted, and after yet another extended exchange we’re back at deuce. And I don’t even know what to tell you any more, 33 strokes before Medvedev errs, and this might be a glitch in his system; he’s not winning all the long rallies, maybe not even half of them, and at the end of another, he nets! Tien holds for 1-0 in the fifth, and what does he have left to give on return?

So for anyone coming late, this is the score: Tien 6-3 7-6 6-7 1-6 Medvedev.

Medvedev is back and off we go; let’s see what the kid has left, for we know the older man has plenty.

I say that, but of course Medvedev disappears, leaving Tien on court to stiffen yet further. I’m not ruling him out because I’ve seen enough to know he can confound us all, but his speed is a crucial part of his game and if it’s gone, he’s relying on serving like God.

Medvedev wins the fourth set to level at 2-2

Tien finds himself down 30-40 and will want to serve first in the fifth, so hits consecutive winners because the ball arrives at where he happens to be; he’d not have chased them down. Then Medvedev drags a return wide, so will now have to serve for the set at 5-1.