Thanasi Kokkinakis faces a stiff challenge to continue his hometown run in Adelaide, with the local sure to draw a sellout crowd against world No.15 Jannik Sinner.

Kokkinakis and Sinner have met just once on the tour, but it proved to be one of the most engrossing matches of the season.

In the first-round of the Cincinnati masters last August, Sinner needed a third-set tie-break to prevail, coming through 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-6(6) in three hours and 15 minutes.

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Kokkinakis will be looking to join fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin in the quarterfinals of the event, with Popyrin coming from a set down to defeat American Marcus Giron on Wednesday night.

Also in action on Thursday is Novak Djokovic, with the nine-time Australian Open champion taking on Frenchman Quentin Halys, who knocked out Australian Jordan Thompson to qualify for the main draw.

Djokovic breezed through his first singles match in Australia in nearly two years, defeating Halys’ countryman Constant Lestienne in straight sets on Tuesday.

The United Cup will resume on Friday in Sydney, with the final four teams to do battle in Sydney.

On Friday, Poland will begin its clash against the USA during the day, while the evening session will see Greece and Italy begin their tie.

Both ties will conclude over the course of Saturday, with the winners to face each other in the final.

ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL: Order of play (all times AEDT)

Centre Court

Matches from 11:30am

Roman Safiullin vs Denis Shapovalov (7)

Novak Djokovic (1) vs Quentin Halys

Not before 3pm

Victoria Azarenka vs Qinwen Zheng

Not before 7pm

Jannik Sinner (6) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis

Not before 9pm

Ons Jabeur vs Sorana Cirstea

Showcourt 1

Matches from 11:30am

Linda Noskova vs Claire Liu

Jelena Ostapenko (7) vs Irina-Camelia Begu

Not before 2:30pm

Sebastian Korda vs Roberto Bautista Agut