The tennis-loving public and event organisers alike got what they wished for when local hope Bernard Tomic and Swiss legend Roger Federer won their first two matches at the Australian Open this week.
Those four results meant the two would face off in a third-round showdown at the first grand slam of the year, and the highly anticipated clash will take place on Saturday night at Rod Laver Arena.
Ever since the draw for the 2013 Australian Open was released seven days ago, the crystal-ballers and soothsayers couldn't help but talk about the Federer-Tomic match-up as if it were a fait accompli.
And while the 17-time grand slam champion has barely raised a sweat in sweeping aside Benoit Paire and Nikolay Davydenko, Tomic didn't have it all his own way following his regulation first-round victory over Argentine Leonardo Mayer.
German Daniel Brands reminded the Australian 20-year-old just how tough grand slam tennis is when he pushed him to four sets in a gritty 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-8) result which took almost three hours to complete in searing 39-degree heat.
But the match might ultimately prove to be exactly the kind of preparation Tomic needed ahead of his daunting date with the number two seed.
The encounter will serve as a rematch of their fourth-round meeting at the Australian Open a mere 12 months ago.
On that occasion, Federer ruthlessly brought the high-flying Tomic back down to earth 6-4 6-2 6-2 after the youngster rode a huge wave of momentum to get to that point following wins against Fernando Verdasco, Sam Querrey and Alexandr Dolgopolov.
There's no doubt Tomic has started 2013 with a bang as he finds himself undefeated so far this year in a run that saw him net his first ATP World Tour title in Sydney.
It's been an ideal way of putting a mostly disastrous 2012 behind him which saw him kicked off the Davis Cup team and accused of tanking among other things.
But while Tomic has been impressive so far this year, Saturday night's match against Federer will provide the real test of how far he has really come in the past 12 months.
Tomic was blown off the court by the Swiss maestro at this tournament last year and if a repeat of that performance occurs, then it will be a case of back to square one for the Australian prodigy.
And their head-to-head record doesn't make for pretty reading for Tomic either with four-time Australian Open champion Federer winning all three of their encounters and conceding only one set in those matches.
So Tomic will undoubtedly be keen to ensure their next clash goes to at least four sets to prove he is on the right track.
In other men's third round action on Saturday, US Open champion Andy Murray will take on impressive Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis, sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro meets Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and number seven seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga locks horns with Slovenian Blaz Kavcic, who eliminated Australian James Duckworth in a five-set epic on Thursday.
Elsewhere, ninth seed Richard Gasquet faces Croatian Ivan Dodig, 12th seed Marin Cilic takes on number 21 seed Andreas Seppi, emerging Canadian star Milos Raonic faces German Philipp Kohlschreiber and a mouth-watering all-French showdown between Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils will take place on Hisense Arena.
Some of the women's biggest names are also in action on Saturday with world number one Victoria Azarenka and 15-time grand slam champ Serena Williams tackling American Jamie Hampton and Japan's Ayumi Morita respectively.
Number 10 seed Caroline Wozniacki plays Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, Russian Maria Kirilenko does battle with 20th seed Yanina Wickmayer, Italy's Roberta Vinci clashes with Russian Elena Vesnina and a glimpse of the future of women's tennis will take place on show court two when impressive American youngster Sloane Stephens meets Great Britain's Australian-born teenager Laura Robson.
Meanwhile, 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm will attempt to once again prove age is no barrier when she takes on Serbian Bojana Jovanovski and a fourth-round spot will also be on the line when Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova and Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro meet.