By Michael Ramsey and Darren Walton
Tennis titans Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are set to do battle in what organisers have declared the biggest Australian Open final in the tournament's 105-year history.
Twenty-four hours after Serena Williams denied sister Venus 6-4 6-4 in the oldest women's grand slam decider ever, Federer and Nadal will also roll back the years in a retro men's final on Rod Laver Arena.
Retro night: The Australian Open takes the years back on Sunday for what has been declared the biggest final in tournament history
A strong crowd had already begun to file in to Melbourne Park on Sunday afternoon, hours before one of the most hotly anticipated clashes in recent history.
Officials will take the unprecedented step of opening up Margaret Court Arena and telecasting the final on a big screen inside the 7500-seat stadium, with the champion set to speak at the venue after the match.
"It'll be the biggest crowd (at Melbourne Park) for a finals' weekend, for sure," tournament director Craig Tiley said on Sunday.
"From a global audience point of view, we know last year our event surpassed 350 million globally that watched it. All the indicators that we've got as we stand here now (suggest) that we'll surpass that number.
"From an Australian Open final point of view, from a global point of view and I think from a stadium point of view, it'll be the biggest (ever)."
The appearances of Serena, 35, Venus, 36, Roger, 35 and Rafa, 30, in the championship matches marks the first time the veteran quartet have played off for the men's and women's trophies since Wimbledon in 2008.
The odds of such a scenario unfolding at the start of the tournament were 16,000-1, according to veteran bookmaker Gerard Daffy.
The UBET spruiker said the Williams sisters and Federer and Nadal all making the Open final was, in terms of odds, the biggest shock since sports betting was legalised in Australia in 1992.
Bookmakers around the world stand to lose millions if the hugely popular Federer can topple Nadal for the first time at a grand slam in a decade.
Federer, already the men's all-time grand slam title leader, is attempting to win his 18th major four and a half years after last reigning at one of tennis's four biggest events.
It's also the Swiss master's first tournament back since breaking down at Wimbledon last July with a recurrence of a knee injury he required surgery for five months earlier.
Nadal, chasing his 15th slam, is hoping to crown his own comeback from an injury-ravaged 2016 season and re-enter the conversation about who is the sport's greatest modern-day player.
AAP