Zverev’s team had already qualified for the final by the time they played Australia yesterday but that proved no excuse for the German, who was beaten by Thanasi Kokkinakis in three sets.
Federer meanwhile has breezed through the week, setting up his Swiss team for win on each of his three occasions with routine straight sets wins.
The 36-year-old beat Yuichi Sugita, Karen Khachanov and Jack Sock to show impressive form while his Australian Open rivals are almost all struggling with injury.
Express Sport brings you all the action from his match in Perth today, where he will likely face his toughest test of the year so far.
Roger Federer vs Alexander Zverev LIVE
7.45am: As they say in Western Australia, “she’s a beauty!”. This is the final we were all hoping would emerge from the shakedown of teams in this unique exhibition tournament.
Remember that this is an exhibition, and later in the matches both players have been a little light-hearted – but it is still serious work with only nine days to sharpen their tools ahead of the Australian Open.
And Federer won’t want to give Zverev any quarter: the German is world No 3 and likely his one of his fiercest challengers for the title in Melbourne. Add to that the fact that Zverev has two ATP wins in five meetings with Federer, and this should be a serious match between the two.
8am start due UK time – and they’ve been pretty prompt so far this week in Perth.