The pair will square off on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday night after Open officials resisted the temptation to schedule the fan favourite on his beloved John Cain Arena.

"To play it on John Cain - I'm going to call it Kyrgios Court - would be fun but obviously, either way, it's going to be a hell of an experience for me," Kyrgios said.

Kyrgios boasts a 2-0 head-to-head record against Medvedev, having beaten the Russian twice in 2019 - on a Washington hard court and on clay in Rome.

But their respective careers have since taken vastly contrasting paths, Kyrgios plummeting to 115th in the rankings and Medvedev surging to world No.2.

Medvedev's grand slam breakthrough at Flushing Meadows in September, having lost the 2019 US Open final to Rafael Nadal and last year's AO title decider to Novak Djokovic, drew the ultimate accolade from Kyrgios on Tuesday night

"He's probably the best player in the world at the moment," Kyrgios said after setting up the blockbuster with a straight-sets win over British qualifier Liam Broady.

Kyrgios was vocal in his support for Djokovic during the Serb's visa saga but, now that the world No.1's gone from Melbourne Park, he's also seemingly forgotten.

Medvedev is not only the highest-ranked player now in the draw, but also a warm Open title favourite.

"He does everything extremely well. He's a hard worker, ticks all the boxes," Kyrgios said.

While they're separated by 113 spots in the rankings, Kyrgios knows talent-wise it's a different story.

The first and only player since Lleyton Hewitt almost two decades ago to topple Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic in his first-ever meeting with the Big Three, Kyrgios knows he can stop anyone when at his best.

"I feel like those matches still excite me, to go out there and play the best in the world," the mercurial Australian said.

"That was always something I wanted to prove to people that someone like me could do, win those matches.

"I'm pretty excited, I'm excited for that moment. That's why I play the game.

"I'm not going to go into it with a lot of expectation. I'm going to go out there, have some fun, play my game. I have a pretty set-in-stone game plan of what I need to do to have success."

The 2015 AO quarter-finalist will draw on that success against Medvedev three years ago, even if Kyrgios says "no doubt that he's probably double the player he was before when I played him".

"I know the kind of game style and the way I need to play.

"He knows how I'm going to play, I think, and I know how he's going to play. It's going to be very contrasting styles."

NICK KYRGIOS (AUS) leads 2-DANIIL MEDVEDEV (RUS) 2-0

2019 Washington, hard, F, Kyrgios 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4)

2019 Rome, clay, R64, Kyrgios 6-3 3-6 6-3

DANIIL MEDVEDEV

Age: 25

Ranking: 2

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US22,126,356

Career titles: 13

Grand slam titles: 1 (US Open 2021)

Australian Open win-loss record: 14-5

Best Australian Open result: finalist 2021

NICK KYRGIOS

Age: 26

Ranking: 115

Plays: right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Career prize money: $US8,987,950

Career titles: 6

Grand slam titles: 0

Australian Open win-loss record: 17-6

Best Australian Open result: quarter-finalist 2015

Australian Associated Press