Federer wins titanic match to set up Nadal final

ROGER Federer needed more than three hours to outlast Nick Kyrgios 7-6(9) 6-7(9) 7-6(5) in a pulsating Miami Open semifinal on Friday to set up another mouthwatering final clash with Rafa Nadal today (7pm SA time).

The Swiss, who has won two of his last three tournaments including the Australian Open, had to dig deep to get through a second straight test after fending off a match point in his quarterfinal victory over Tomas Berdych.

The 35-year-old’s victory sets up a rematch of January’s Melbourne Park title-decider against Spaniard Nadal, who earlier rolled over unseeded Italian Fabio Fognini 6-1 7-5.

Kyrgios, who has twice beaten Novak Djokovic over the last month, left his racket a twisted heap on the court after coming up short in a battle against the former world No 1 and a partisan crowd.

In their only previous match in Madrid in 2015, the Australian came out on top in a similar three-set thriller that went to three tiebreaks with the last decided 14-12.

“It’s great winning this way, especially of course I remember the loss against him few years ago,” Federer told reporters. “I know I can’t always show my fighting skills because everything else sort of takes over.”

The temperamental Kyrgios came apart in the late stages of the last tiebreak after a fan yelled out when