TORONTO (AFP) - Nicolas Kiefer rolled back three years of injury and poor form to end the run of Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) on Saturday, booking a place in the final of the Toronto Masters.

Kiefer, 31 and ranked 37th, will play in his first final since St Petersburg in autumn 2005, when he lost to Swede Thomas Johansson.

He will face either Scotland's Andy Murray or French Open and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, who met later Saturday in the second semi-final.

Simon's hardcourt summer run was stopped at nine straight victories as the world number 22 finally began to feel the effects of the best two weeks of his career.

The unseeded French player won his fourth career title at Indianapolis last weekend and carried on with a stunning second-round upset of Roger Federer here.

Kiefer lifted the last of his six titles back in 2000, beating Mark Philippoussis in Hong Kong.

"It was a very close match, it was not easy to play. Anything can happen," Kiefer said. "All I could do was fight for every point.

"It was not easy, but it is a victory and that's what counts," added Kiefer, who displayed a deadly drop shot to great effect against Simon.

"It worked very well today, but tomorrow is another day," he said. "Every day that I'm on the court is something special for me. I just try to enjoy it as much as I can."

In a twist of fate, the semi-final opponents will square off early next week in the first round at Cincinnati, where they are drawn against each other for the second time in their careers.

The match got off to an unpromising start as rain forced a one-hour delay after the first point had been completed.

Once back on court, Kiefer twice lost leads in the opening set as Simon fought through his growing fatigue to force a tiebreaker.

The 23-year-old from Nice seized the early initiative as he profited from 29 Kiefer unforced errors to claim the opener.

The tide changed in the second, with the German fighting back with a break in the fourth game and levelling the match.

In the third set, Kiefer broke early to lead 2-1, but was broken in the eighth as Simon willed himself to fight on.

Kiefer came through in the second tiebereaker of a long afternoon.

The German whose attacking style resulted in nearly 50 winners but nearly 70 unforced errors, controlled the decider, setting up match point with a service winner and going through as Simon sprayed a volley wide.

Kiefer, who missed a year from mid-2006 with a wrist injury which required surgery, has lost three times to Nadal, including Wimbledon in June and has never faced Murray.