Brisbane’s John Millman has pulled off a remarkable fightback to battle into his first ATP Tour semi-final for a year by saving two match points and then coming from 5-0 down in a deciding tiebreak to beat American Tommy Paul in the Astana Open.

Millman, who also had to come from a set down, saved his two match points at 3-5 in the third set.

He then made a dramatic and unlikely comeback in the tiebreak to complete a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory in an absorbing contest lasting two hours 51 minutes.

It was the 31-year-old Australian’s first trip to the last four of an ATP Tour event since he reached the Japan Open final last October, losing to Novak Djokovic.

The 23-year-old Paul, who reached the Adelaide International semi-finals in January, blew two golden opportunities, hitting a double fault at 5-4 and 40-30 up in the deciding set and then hitting a forehand long when a second chance presented itself.

Fourth seed Millman, the world No. 45, will next take on unseeded American Frances Tiafoe, who booked a place in his first ATP semi-final for two-and-a-half years with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 7-5 victory over Egor Gerasimov, of Belarus.

The pair met in the recent U.S. Open with Tiafoe edging a five-setter but Millman has a 2-1 career advantage over the 22-year-old American.

Earlier this month, Tiafoe lifted the fifth ATP Challenger Tour trophy of his career at the Internazionali di Tennis Emilia Romagna in Parma and has found some of the form that has for so long seen him tipped for great things.

Later, the third-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino challenges American Mackenzie McDonald while Kazakhstani No. 2 Mikhail Kukushkin completes the quarter-finals with a tie against Finnish qualifier Emil Ruusuvuori.