Tennis-Frenchman Simon beats Cilic to reach Toronto semi-finals

TORONTO, July 25 (Reuters) - In-form Frenchman Gilles Simon continued his magical hardcourt campaign by beating Marin Cilic 3-6 6-2 6-3 to reach the Toronto Masters semi-finals on Friday.

It was a battle of the giant-killers, the Frenchman having shocked world number one Roger Federer in the second round while the 19-year-old Croatian claimed the scalp of former champion and sixth seed Andy Roddick in the third round.

Simon now awaits the winner of the quarter-final between American seventh seed James Blake and Germany's Nicolas Kiefer for a chance to play in his third final of the season.

The 22-year-old has had a remarkable run on the North American hardcourts, winning nine matches in 11 days including capturing his second title this year with a straight sets win over Russian Dmitry Tursunov in Indianapolis last Sunday.

In the other quarter-finals Spain's second-seeded French Open and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal takes on Frenchman Richard Gasquet while the Toronto Masters holder, third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic, faces Briton Andy Murray.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)