Australian Open: Roger Federer catches up with Steve Smith at Melbourne Park

Roger Federer had a surprise visitor after his fourth round win at the Australian Open on Monday.

Australian cricket captain Steve Smith made a trip to Melbourne Park and caught up with the 19-time Grand Slam champion.

The official Twitter account of the Australian Open, doing a phenomenal job since the commencement of the first Major of 2018, shared a picture of the two champions.

Here's the tweet

Australian Cricket Captain @stevesmith49 meets 19x Grand Slam Champion @rogerfederer.

Sure there’s a few success stories to swap there...#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/DK0pVwdIaW

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2018

Although Federer and Smith have diametrically opposite playing styles - the tennis legend is poetry in motion on the court, while the batting maestro is known for ugly runs - the duo is at the peak of their respective sports at the moment.

Smith is currently captaining Australia in a five-match ODI series against arch rivals England. The hosts have already lost the series, having gone down in the third ODI in Sydney on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Federer is defending his Australian Open crown in Melbourne. The Swiss superstar was a strictly nocturnal beast throughout the first week of the 'Happy Slam' but proved just as effective with the sun on his back as he sauntered into the quarter-finals for the 14th time on Monday.

The defending champion did not require his dazzling best against 80th-ranked Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in his first match scheduled during the day session but still emerged a comfortable 6-4 7-6(3) 6-2 winner.

"I practiced with him for a few days in a row in Switzerland. That helped, you know, knowing his strength and weaknesses a little bit," said Federer post his win. "He was not completely the unknown opponent that maybe people thought he was. He hung with me for a long time. So it was a good match."

(Inputs from Reuters)