INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AFP) - France's Gilles Simon outlasted exhausted American Sam Querrey to claim a place in the final of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday.

For the second straight year, Querrey, 20, stalled at the last-four stage, barely able to stand in the closing stages of a drama lasting just over two hours.

"I kept fighting, especially when I could seem him leaning on his racket after points in the third set," said Simon, ranked 25th and playing in his first American semi-final on a sticky, humid day.

"I could tell he was tired and that kept me fighting."

Simon will line up on Sunday against either top-seeded 2006 champion James Blake or Russian title holder Dmitry Tursunov, seeded third.

Simon, who won a third career ATP title in Casablanca in May, improved his season record to 25-16 as he became the first French player since Olivier Delaitre in 1994 to challenge for the Indy title.

The match was a fitness disaster for Querrey, who looked like making an early exit while trailing a set and 4-2.

The Californian whose huge serve produced a mere three aces, somehow rallied in the second set, recovering from a break in the sixth game with a break-back in the seventh for 3-4 as Simon donated a pair of doubles faults.

He squared the contest at a set each but then began to fade badly in the third.

A struggling Querrey saved three break points to hold for 4-4 in the third, then forced Simon to save five a game later.

But with the American fading, the fitter Frenchman earned the edge, breaking in the final game to lift the win.

Querrey threw away multiple chances, converting on only three of 19 break points, with Simon also leading the ace count with 11.