Milos Raonic beats David Goffin to reach Indian Wells final

Milos Raonic reached his third Masters Series final with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory over David Goffin at Indian Wells that saw him into the Paribas Open final.

Raonic, who lost both his previous 1000 series finals, is on course for the biggest win of his career after seeing off the threat of Goffin in three tight sets under blazing sun and in near 100 degree heat in California.

The pair emerged from the carnage of the bottom half of the draw to contest a surprise semi-final before Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal clashed for the 28th time later in the afternoon.

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Goffin won the only previous meeting between the pair but in his first Masters semi-final he initially looked overawed by Raonic's formidable serve and blistering forehand - but as he has done all week he found a way to fight back.

It was the Canadian who seized the early advantage. Raonic, who had not lost a set en route to the last four held his first two service games comfortably before breaking Goffin in the fourth game of the match.

After consolidating comfortably Raonic's serve was not put under real pressure until the seventh game where Goffin mustered his first break point of the match, although Raonic recovered to preserve his advantage and close out the opener 6-3.

While Goffin was in unfamiliar territory in a Masters event, Raonic was in his second successive Indian Wells semi-final and also has the experience of two Masters final defeats behind him - all that before his run to the Australian Open semi-final earlier this year.

Goffin has twice fought back from losing the opening set this week and broke to love to take a 3-1 lead early on but Raonic broke back immediately to leave the Belgian furious with himself.

However rather than dwell on events the Belgian broke again to lead 5-3 and held his serve to send the match into a decider.

But it was Raonic who drew the sting first, holding serve either side of a decisive early break to forge 3-0 ahead - an advantage he never looked like dropping as he moved into Sunday's final with a dominant service game to claim the win with his first match point.

You can follow all the action from the final at Indian Wells on Sunday from 8pm on Sky Sports 3.