David Ferrer overcome the challenge of world number four Andy Murray 6-4 6-7 6-3 6-2 to advance through to the semi-finals of the French Open this evening.

Spanish number two Ferrer began the brighter of the two players in the French capital and made the most of his domination by claiming a break of Murray's serve in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 advantage.

That proved to be decisive as Murray was unable to clinch the required break as he slipped to a 6-4 loss in the opening set.

Murray failed to hold his service game once again at the beginning of the second set. However, on this occasion he soon restored parity to level up proceedings at three games apiece with a succession of defensive strokes.

Both players had chances to break again as the set progressed, but neither made the most of their opportunities as a tie-breaker was reached. Murray took advantage of the breaker by claiming two early mini-breaks and despite losing one of those, he held out to win 7-3.

Play was suspended at the start of the third set because of heavy rain showers in Paris. When the players returned 30 minutes later, it was Murray who appeared to be the more affected by the delay.

While Ferrer was broken once by a player two places above him in the rankings, Murray lost two of his service games after the resumption which allowed Ferrer to claim the third set 6-3.

Murray began the fourth set positively by breaking the Ferrer serve thanks to a powerful backhand stroke. However, his hard work was undone when he surrendered his very next service game to his Spanish opponent.

Ferrer then proceeded to win the next three games as he opened up a 4-1 lead.

While Murray held his next service game, Ferrer responded by winning the next two games to secure his passage through to the final four, where he will face world number two and defending champion Rafael Nadal.

It is the first time that Ferrer has reached the semi-final stage at the French Open.