Roger Federer EXCLUSIVE: Swiss star wants to put Stefanos Tsitsipas in his place – expert

Federer beat Taylor Fritz in straight sets on Friday morning to book his place in the Australian Open fourth round.

Meanwhile, Tsitsipas needed four sets, as he has all week, to get past No 19 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Federer and the Greek youngster have never met on the ATP tour but did clash at the Hopman Cup earlier this month, with the world No 3 coming up on top.

And Croft reckons Federer enjoys showing the NextGen stars that the old guard are still in charge.

“You would have to think Federer will be the favourite because of all the experience he will take into it,” Croft told Express Sport.

“And he never fears young pretenders, he always wants to kind of put them in their place.

“If Tsitsipas can bring out the sort of talent we have seen in the last 12 months or so it could be really interesting.”

Tsitsipas, 20, won the NextGen Finals last year and is looking to continue to climb up the world rankings in 2019.

And he has already made a giant leap by progressing to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

“That is an amazing tie and I am a huge fan of Tsitsipas,” Croft added.

“He is 19 years of age and has just got so much charisma.

“I liken him to a bit of Bjorn Born, Errol Flynn and Johnny Depp.

“He has so much character on the court and a beautiful game.

“He looks to come forward all the time and he will absolutely relish going up against Federer on centre court.

“That is the sort of match that he will bring all the guns out. That is going to be really fun to watch.”

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source: express.co.uk