The Frenchman, who last made it to the last four at Roland Garros six years ago, lost the first two sets 6-4, 6-1 to leave himself with a massive uphill struggle.

Two-time Grand Slam winner Murray looked on course for an untroubled victory, but Monfils stepped up his play considerably as his home crowd grew in optimism.

He mirrored the scoreline of the first two sets - the only difference being he was the winner - 6-4, 6-1, to level the match.

With the time gone 9pm in Paris, and the Briton with his back against the wall, referee Stefan Fransson came on to court to assess the conditions.

He told the players they had 20 minutes left, making it a virtual certainty the fifth set would not be concluded.

But Murray had other ideas.

The Briton had a wobble on serve in his opening game, before breaking in the second to take a 2-0 lead.

Monfils began to let the errors flow, as Murray reasserted his early-match dominance to breeze the decider 6-0, with the time at 9.40pm, and book his slot in the last four.

Gaël Monfils let the errors flow in the decider, to the disappointment of his home crowd
©Getty Images



"It was a hard match," said Murray after the three hours 15 minutes encounter.

"Conditions changed quite a lot during it.

"It was extremely windy in the beginning and then it was pretty calm at the end and very slow."

He added: "I didn't want to stop the match [before the fifth set].

"I was told we had 20 minutes left, so, you could potentially play two games, two or three games in that time.

"Six was the maximum that you could play.

"I mean, it was so dark at the end."

Monfils blamed a desire to finish the match quickly while Murray was down and before the light suspended the match, for his loss.

"Maybe that's why I was a bit rushed in attacking him," he said.

"I'm very frustrated."

Murrary will play world number one Rafael Nadal, who is bidding for his ninth French Open title.

The Spaniard needed four sets to see off countryman David Ferrer, won he beat in last year's final.

Rafael Nadal's bid for a ninth French Open title is still on, after beating countryman David Ferrer for the second year in a row ©Getty Images



Nadal started slowly on a rain-affected day in Paris, losing the opener 6-4.

But it was comfortable after that, with Nadal taking the next three sets 6-4, 6-0, 6-1.

He said after the match: "When you play David on any surface, it's always tough and he's having a great season.

"But I was more aggressive after the first set and maybe he did not have the best of matches as it went on."

The make-up of the other men's semi-final has already been decided, with Serbia's Novak Djokovic to play Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.

Tomorrow is women's semi-final day at Roland Garros.

Maria Sharapova, the only player left in the last four to have won a Grand Slam, faces Canada's rising star Eugenie Bouchard on Philippe Chatrier.

Following them on court will be Romanian Simona Halep, at number four the highest seeded player left in the women's draw, who plays Andrea Petkovic of Germany.

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