Milos Raonic beats Rafael Nadal in Brisbane thriller

The top seed slipped a set down as Nadal made a very impressive start, but he managed to battle back and take each of the next two sets to secure his progress.

The Canadian, who is expected to make a strong run at the Australian Open which gets underway next week, will next face seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov in the last four after the Bulgarian beat Dominic Thiem.

The other semi-final sees Stanislas Wawrinka take on Kei Nishikori after the Japanese third seed's 6-1 6-1 win over local favourite Jordan Thompson.

"It was a great match tonight and I'm very happy with myself, how I competed against such a great player and competitor as Rafa," Raonic said in a courtside interview.

Raonic fired down 19 more aces than Nadal.

"That's six games I got for myself without having to run too much, which is very generous of myself," he added.

Nadal, returning to the tour this week after injury, struck 19 winners as he continued his preparations for this month's Australian Open.

"He was more aggressive than me... but I take the positive. It was a small difference," said the Spaniard who had added former world number one Carlos Moya to his coaching team last month as he seeks to revive his career following a spate of injuries.