Veteran Australian Lleyton Hewitt is also in form ahead of Melbourne, having won the Kooyong Classic exhibition.

The former world No. 1 beat world No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro on Saturday, having earlier defeated sixth-ranked Tomas Berdych and No. 15 Milos Raonic.

Now back up to 82nd in the rankings after falling out of the top 200, the 2005 Australian Open runner-up will play ninth-ranked Janko Tipsarevic in his opening match.

"I'm extremely happy with how I'm hitting the ball at the moment, and a lot of the pressure's on him," Hewitt said of the Serbian, who has suffered wrist problems since winning the Chennai Open in India this month.