Nick Kyrgios officially ranked Australia’s number one after beating Milos Raonic in Miami Masters

Controversial young gun Nick Kyrgios has overpowered Milos Raonic, who is five years his senior, 6-4 7-6 to move forward to the semi-finals in the Miami Masters.

The Thursday night win (Friday AEST) places Kyrgios as Australia’s new number one ahead of previous title holder Bernard Tomic, while catapulting him from rank 26 to secure a top 20 world ranking.

Before the commencement of the Miami Masters, Tomic was forced to bow out after a wrist injury continued to cause him grief, the same injury which saw him retire to Raonic in the Indian Wells.

Although he struggled with his first serve, Kyrgios broke Raonic in the opening game of the match, which saw him take a 2-0 lead early on.

The straight sets win for Kyrgios saw a much tougher second set finishing in a tiebreaker for the Aussie, who is now the youngest player to advance to the semifinals of the Miami Masters since Juan Martin del Potro in 2009.

Despite his achievements, Kyrgios has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons after a couple of on-court stints landed him in hot water.

There was the time he answered his mobile phone on court during an Australian Open 2016 mixed doubles match with girlfriend Ajla Tomljanovic, as well as the moment he made complaints to a chair umpire about music he could hear during his match against Tomas Berdych, which prompted an Australian crowd to boo and hurl abuse towards Kyrgios at the Rod Laver Arena.

“Mate, there is music playing in the crowd while we are playing, I’ve told you seven times,” Kyrgios complained before adding, “You’re a terrible referee.”

However, the controversial sledge towards Stan Wawrinka that saw Kyrgios cop a US$10,000 fine from the ATP -- a microphone had caught him mumbling that Thanasi Kokkinakis had slept with Wawrinka’s girlfriend -- is what understandably caused the most outrage.

Kyrgios posted the following to his instagram account shortly after defeating Raonic, which saw him lose his third game of the season.

All eyes are now on Kyrgios, with hopes the young Aussie star will continue to improve his performance on and off the court as he takes on Japan’s Kei Nishikori, after Nishikori saved five separate match points to defeat frenchman Gael Monfils and win his quarter final showdown.

The winner of the upcoming semi-final is set to take on Novak Djokovic or David Goffin in the Miami Masters finals.