SHANGHAI, China — Third-ranked Novak Djokovic reached the Masters Cup final by rallying to beat France's Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday.

Andy Murray of Britain and Russia's Nikolay Davydenko were to meet later in the other semifinal.

Djokovic's game was off in the first set, when he committed 21 unforced errors. But the Serb pulled himself together, mixing up stinging groundstrokes with deft drop shots from behind the baseline.

Djokovic, who lost all three of his matches in his Masters Cup debut last year, got down on his knees and kissed the court after winning the match in 2 hours, 51 minutes.

Simon hit the ball crisp and clean in the first set, dropping only six points in five service games, and took advantage of Djokovic's inconsistency. The Serb made back-to-back mistakes to hand Simon the only break he needed.

But in the second set, Djokovic picked up his game and started clipping the lines.

At the same time, Simon's level of play dropped. He called for the trainer early in the second set for what appeared to be a sore neck, then had his first two double-faults in the next game, the second on breakpoint. Djokovic held serve for the rest of the set to level.

Simon, added to the field of the season-ending tournament when No. 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew with a knee injury, was twice unfortunate with net courts to lose his serve in the third game of the third set.

Djokovic got a winner on a shot that hit the tape and dropped over. Simon later saved one breakpoint, but on Djokovic's next opportunity, the Frenchman hit the tape, and the ball sailed just long, causing Simon to whack the net in frustration.

Djokovic, who needed treatment on his left calf halfway through the set, served for the match at 5-4, but double-faulted on breakpoint.

In the next game, he guessed right when Simon got to a short ball on the run and smacked a forehand crosscourt. The Serb blocked it back into the open court for breakpoint, then converted when Simon found the net with a backhand after a long rally.

Given a second chance to finish off the Frenchman, Djokovic didn't falter, making a drop shot winner on match point.