Nishikori became the first Japanese player to reach a Grand Slam final after he pulled off a shock victory against 2011 champion and world number one Djokovic in what is arguably the biggest shock of the modern era in the sport.

Many pundits gave 10th seed Nishikori little hope of victory coming into the encounter given his two five-set matches in the two previous rounds.

Fatigue seemed no such problem for the 24-year-old as he battled to a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win in scorching 36 degree heat to progress to a surprise final against Croatian Čilić.

"It's just an amazing feeling, beating the number one player," said Nishikori.

"I hope it's big news in Japan.

"I feel the support from Japan.

"It's 4 o'clock in the morning but I hope a lot of people are watching.

"It was really tough conditions today, it felt a little bit heavy and humid.

"I guess I like long matches."

Few expected the Japanese player to challenge Djokovic in his debut Grand Slam semi-final, however, it was Nishikori who began the better of the two as he broke twice to take the opening set against a fairly lacklustre Djokovic.

It was no surprise, therefore, when the Serbian powerhouse bounced back to surge to a 6-1 second set in just 30 minutes.

The third set was no doubt the pivotal one as Nishikori looked to be coping better with the heat and survived a number of break point scares to take the tiebreaker 7-4.

A tiring Djokovic could then do nothing to stop Nishikori, who powered on in the fourth to become the first Japanese player, as well as the first Asian male player, to ever reach a Grand Slam final.

Marin Čilić recorded a brilliant straight sets victory over Roger Federer to set up a shock final with Kei Nishikori ©Getty Images



Čilić will also be making his Grand Slam final debut after a surprise straight sets victory over Swiss legend and five-time champion Federer.

The Croatian was playing in only his second major semi-final and came into the encounter with a 0-5 record against his Swiss counterpart.

That didn't stop the six foot six, world number 15 powering to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory with four break of serves and 43 winners, to set up the first Grand Slam final since the Australian Open in 2005 that will not feature one of the big four - Federer, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal of Spain or Briton Andy Murray.

"It was an amazing day for me, to be able to play like this, it was the best performance ever in my career," said Čilić.

"Considering also that even when I was a set up and break up, the crowd was rooting for Roger to come back.

"It wasn't easy to deal with that, but I felt that my serve helped me a lot today, to get some free points to breathe a little bit easier.

"It was working perfectly."

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