Untouchable on serve, Kyrgios crunched 25 aces in just two sets to storm into the Mexican Open semi-finals with a commanding 7-6 (11-9) 7-5 victory over the shellshocked 12-time grand slam champion.

"It's a big win," Kyrgios said. "I was a little bit nervous because I'm sure the crowd was rooting for Novak. He's one of the greatest players of all time but I'm playing with confidence.

"My serve is the best part of my game and I had one of my best serving matches tonight."

Aside from reaching his second ATP semi-final in as many weeks, Kyrgios joined his Davis Cup captain and mentor Lleyton Hewitt in the rarest of clubs as the only two players to have conquered grand slam giants Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic in their first tour-level match-ups.

While Federer, Nadal and Djokovic were all teenage up and comers when Hewitt first beat them, the trio are now bona-fide legends of the game, with 44 grand slam singles titles between them and a combined 666 weeks as world No.1s.

Kyrgios announced his arrival on the world stage with a thunderous fourth-round win over Nadal in 2014 on Wimbledon's hallowed centre court before upending Federer on clay in Madrid the following year.

Love him or loathe him, the mercurial youngster's stunning victory over Djokovic on yet another different surface confirms his status as a grand slam champion in waiting.

At just 21, Kyrgios is also the youngest player to have snared the scalps of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, though his success over Murray came last year at the non-sanctioned Hopman Cup.

Bidding to reach his first final of the season, world No. 17 Kyrgios faces unseeded American Sam Querrey, who earlier on Friday (AEDT) took out fourth- seeded Dominic Thiem 6-1 7-5.

"He is a big-serving American. I played him before and I know what to expect," Kyrgios said.

The other semi-final will feature two-time champion and second seed Nadal against third seed Marin Cilic.

Nadal extended his winning streak in Acapulco to 13 matches with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 defeat of Yoshihito Nishioka.

Cilic cruised into the last four without picking up a racquet after American Steve Johnson withdrew because of a right ankle injury.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal ran his Acapulco winning streak to 13 matches on Thursday, beating Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

The tournament winner in 2005 and 2013, Nadal needed almost two hours to finish off Nishioka. The 30-year-old Spanish star overcame a 4-2 deficit in the first set and got out of a 0-2 hole in the second.

"Every game here is special. I did not play my best tennis but that's why it has a merit," Nadal said. "I played great the previous rounds and today I was able to get over a tough situation. I'm happy to be in the semi-finals, that's great news."

Nadal will face third-seed Marin Cilic, the Croatian who advanced when American Steve Johnson withdrew because of a right ankle injury.

Nadal, who is playing in his first tournament since losing to Roger Federer in the Australian Open final, leads the duel against Cilic 3-1, but they haven't played since the Basel quarter-finals in 2015 when Nadal won 4-6 6-3 6-3.

"He's one of the toughest rivals in the world, he has a great serve and is very aggressive," Nadal said. "I will have to play so much better than today if I want to have a shot. It's a big match. I hope to be prepared for it."

AAP, AP

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