adminAndy Murray was fighting to keep his French Open hopes alive when his semi-final against Novak Djokovic was suspended with a storm approaching.
The Briton trailed 3-6 3-6 7-5 3-3 when play was brought to a halt at 2030 hours local time in Paris.
Djokovic, the world number one, had dominated the first two sets only for Murray to battle back.
The match will resume at 1200 hours BST today, with the winner facing Stan Wawrinka in tomorrow’s final.
Swiss eighth seed Wawrinka’s earlier win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had lasted almost four hours, meaning the second semi-final did not get under way until almost 1730 hours local time, albeit with the temperature still at 33C.
Thunderstorms had been forecast to hit Roland Garros at some stage and, with little prospect of Murray and Djokovic finishing, officials opted to stop with the fourth set tied at 3-3.
That could be viewed as a triumph in itself for Murray, bearing in mind the Scot’s predicament an hour earlier.
Djokovic had looked every inch the French Open champion in waiting as he took the opening sets in a relatively brisk 86 minutes, denying Murray a single break point.
A brief visit from the trainer suggested he might be suffering in the heat but his tennis proved otherwise.
The 28-year-old Serb, aiming to become the eighth man in history to complete the full set of Grand Slam titles, had victory in his sights with two break points midway through the third set, but Murray held on and began to hit more freely.
A breathtaking forehand winner on the turn off a Djokovic lob jolted the Briton, and the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd, to life at 5-5 and another crushing forehand helped him to break.
Moments later he had served out the set to a huge roar from the crowd, thrilled to be getting a contest, and Djokovic took a seven-minute medical timeout as Murray prowled the court alone.
The fourth set saw more drama. Murray reeled off nine points in a row to hold from 0-40 in the second game and break in the next, only to net an awful smash as he instantly gave the advantage back.
The Scot then held on superbly after a blistering cross-court winner from Djokovic left him trailing 15-40 in the final game before play was halted.
There was only one man who had time to win the match on yesterday, but Djokovic was quick to pack up his racquets as the assistant referee told both men that the storm was imminent. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter