Fighting Frenchman Gilles Simon earned a swashbuckling 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) upset win over Rafael Nadal on Saturday to move into a Madrid Masters final with Andy Murray. 

The fourth-seeded Scot turned the tables on Roger Federer as he earned revenge after losing at the US Open by moving past the Swiss 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. 

But Simon's feat in just under three and a half hours was even more impressive as he matched crowd favourite Nadal at his own big-hitting game in the Spaniard's Madrid lair with 14,000 partisans screaming their support. 

Simon will be playing in his first Masters final and lifted himself into provisional ninth in the chase for the Masters Cup with two weeks remaining in the ATP regular season. 

He improved to provisional 11th for the eight-man event next month in Shanghai where four spots remain open in the field. 

Simon came back throughout his struggle with Nadal, losing the first set, winning the second and overcoming a 4-2 deficit in the third. 

When Nadal nullified a 6-5 lead with a break back and forced a tiebreaker, Simon calmly went back to work. 

The winner of three titles this season pulled himself up while trailing 3-5 in the decider and earned the hard-fought victory as a Nadal return on match point was ruled out by the electronic system. 

Simon struck 60 unforced errors but saved 17 of 22 break points in the ferocious battle of shotmaking. 

Despite the defeat, Nadal clinched the year-end number one ranking after Federer lost. 

"My goal is to try and finish the season as well as possible," said the Spaniard. "It was disappointing not to win, it's tough to lose a match like this after a big fight. 

"I tried my best, I'm happy with myself for that. 

"I played with calm, I was not under any big pressure, not after the season I've had," said the winner of eight titles including Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Olympics. 

Murray secured his second win over Federer this season from three matches six weeks after losing the US Open final to the Swiss. Murray called the victory "a great match, a top five match." 

"When you play Federer or Nadal, you have a respect for them, you expect a tougher match. When it's close they can raise their game and they come back when they are behind." 

Against Roger it's difficult to play, once he gets confidence he's hard to stop," said Murray. "Today I changed my serve. He missed a lot when I wasn't expecting it." 

Murray won his 47th match of the season as he bids for his fourth title of 2008. 

Federer confirmed that he will play next week at his home event in Basel after returning from a three-week pause only this week. 

"Andy served very well and returned with much more confidence than he did in New York," said the Swiss. 

"It was an even match, a close match at the end," added Federer who failed in his attempt to claim his first Masters shield of the season. 

"He had more opportunities in the third set (seven break points, only the last converted). It was a frustrating loss in some respects. But if someone is serving well there is not a lot you can do. 

"This has been a good week," said the second seed who took three weeks away from the game. "I move onto Basel-e with a good feeling. 

"After the US Open, I wanted to win a couple of titles and hopefully a Masters event. I got though some tough matches this week, but just not quite today."