Milos Raonic blasted 19 aces and hammered a series of thunderous forehands to upset world No.3 Rafael Nadal and reach the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters.

The Canadian sixth seed saved three match points en route to earning his hard-fought win with a 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 marathon win that lasted three hours on the Tennis Garden’s centre court.

Raonic will face second seed Roger Federer for a place in the final after the Swiss cruised past Czech Tomas Berdych in straight sets.

The 24-year-old’s shocking win over three-time Indian Wells champ Nadal spoils what could have been a semi-final line-up that featured each of the top four seeds as world No.1 Novak Djokovic and fourth seed Andy Murray had already punched their tickets.

This was the first time Raonic has beaten Nadal in six career meetings.

Their first contest was five years ago in Tokyo where Nadal rolled to a 6-4 6-4 win.