Australian Open 2019: Roger Federer vs Denis Istomin: Where to watch & live stream details

Modified Jan 15, 2019 06:32 GMT

The wait is finally over! The Australian Open, which is the first Grand Slam of the year, begins tomorrow at Melbourne Park. Fans can surely expect a lot of mouth-watering contests and expect the fight for the title to go right down to the wire.

Roger Federer comes into the tournament as the defending champion and the world no. 3. He won his 20th Grand Slam in Melbourne last year as he triumphed over Croatia's Marin Cilic in a tough five-set encounter. That was his sixth overall and second consecutive Australian Open title, after having defeated his arch-nemesis Rafael Nadal in the 2017 final.

Federer will have the chance to create history at the Australian Open as he targets a record seventh title down under. No player has ever won more than 6 titles. However, he will not have it easy by any means with Novak Djokovic on the other half of the draw.

The Serb, too, is chasing an unprecedented 7th title and there is a strong possibility that he will face Federer in the final.

The Swiss Maestro will begin his campaign against Denis Istomin tomorrow. Istomin is the man who defied the odds and defeated Novak Djokovic in the second round in 2017. He is currently ranked 99th in the world.

Istomin and Federer have faced off six times, with Federer getting the better of the Uzbek on all occasions. The last time these two played a match against each other was at Basel in 2014 where Federer came out on top in 3 sets. This will be their second Grand Slam meeting - the first was way back in 2006 at the Australian Open itself. Federer won that match in straight sets.

Here is all you need to know about the match:

Match: Roger Federer vs Denis Istomin

Time: Approx 14:45 IST or 20:15 AEDT. The match is scheduled after Caroline Wozniacki's match, which begins at 14:00 IST (19:00 AEDT)