Nick Kyrgios showcased some nerves of steel as he came back from a set down to defeat world No 2 Roger Federer 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 last night and make the Madrid Masters last 16 on debut.

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In a pulsating thriller, the 20-year-old Aussie was facing Federer for the first time and exhibited no signs of intimidation when he broke the Swiss legend in the opening game of the match.

But Kyrgios failed to serve out the set at 5-4 as Federer broke back and ran away with the tiebreak as his opponent got distracted by arguing with umpire Mohamed Lahyani about a mistake made by a line judge.

“Get him out of here,” demanded Kyrgios, but Lahyani wouldn’t tolerate the world No. 35’s behaviour and gave him a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Federer broke in the first game of the second set as it appeared Kyrgios was still fuming from his earlier exchanges but three games later, the Canberra-native struck back to draw level.

The set went to a tie-break and this time it was Kyrgios who had an edge. At the change of ends during the breaker, an irked Federer was heard saying “we need a clown for this circus” as he passed his own bench. Kyrgios, playing his first ever Masters 1000 event on clay, took the set to force a decider.

Both players gave a clinic in serving throughout the third set, which naturally went to a yet another tiebreak. The 33-year-old Federer saved five match points and squandered two of his own before he finally sent an inside out forehand wide to hand over the victory.

Kyrgios, who last year shocked Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon fourth round and now owns two top-10 wins, described his triumph over Federer yesterday as the biggest of his career while the Swiss blamed his loss on poor returning.

“I couldn’t return his first serve, I had a horrible performance on return of serve,” said Federer. “That made life difficult for me. I’m disappointed with how I played on returns, and that cost me the match.”