The Briton lost the first set from holding a 5-2 lead but went on to win 5-7, 7-6, 6-0, 6-2 in three hours and 23 minutes and is next due to face reigning champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in the last four on Friday (June 3).

Third seed Wawrinka beat Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-1, 7-6, but is likely to encounter a much sterner test against Murray, who has now won his last 10 matches on clay having triumphed at last month’s Italian Open in Rome.

Earlier in the day, world number one and top seed Novak Djokovic made it through to the quarter-finals after completing a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 win over 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.

The 29-year-old Serb was 4-1 ahead in the third when rain cut short yesterday’s play and he wasted no time in wrapping up the set on the resumption of the match by winning the first two games.

Djokovic fell a break behind in the fourth but bounced back to claim five consecutive games, finishing with a forehand volley on his second match point.

Victory sets up a meeting with Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych - a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 victor against 2013 runner-up David Ferrer of Spain - and continues the 11-time Grand Slam winner's bid to add this title to his collection.

Austria’s Dominic Thiem is through to his first Grand Slam quarter-final following a 6-2, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Marcel Granollers.

The match was tied at a set apiece before rain stopped play yesterday, but it was 13th-seed Thiem that secured victory to set-up a tie with Belgian 12th seed David Goffin, who defeated Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. 

Rain delays mean the quarter-finals between Djokovic and Berdych, and Goffin and Thiem, are now scheduled to be played tomorrow. 

In the women’s draw, top seed Serena Williams made it through to the quarter-finals after comfortably defeating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1 in their rain-delayed fourth-round match.

The 34-year-old American saw off the 18th seed in just 62 minutes, making it 18 sets in a row at Roland Garros as she continues her quest for a 22nd Grand Slam title.

The world number one and reigning champion now goes on to face unseeded Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who upset Spanish 12th seed Carla Suárez Navarro with a 7-5, 7-5 victory.  

Williams' elder sister Venus did not fare as well, though, losing to Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky for the first time in her career, 6-2, 6-4. 

Eighth seed Bacsinszky will reach the French Open semi-finals for a second year running if she can get the better of unseeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, who defeated American 15th seed Madison Keys 7-6, 6-3.