Andy Murray v Novak Djokovic set to resume at French Open

Andy Murray is aiming to become the first British man to reach a French Open final in 78 years

Andy Murray will fight to keep his French Open hopes alive when his semi-final against Novak Djokovic resumes on Saturday at 12:00 BST.

The Briton trailed 3-6 3-6 7-5 3-3 when a storm stopped play at 20:30 local time in Paris.

Djokovic, the world number one, had dominated the first two sets only for Murray to battle back.

The winner will face Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka in Sunday's final.

Eighth seed Wawrinka's earlier win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had lasted nearly four hours, meaning the second semi-final did not get under way until almost 17:30 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.

When Murray ballooned a straightforward smash over the baseline to give up the second set, it appeared he might be unravelling, just as he had in February's Australian Open final.

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 down in the second game and then 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 Friday, but Djokovic was quick to pack up his racquets as the assistant referee told both men that the storm was imminent.

Novak Djokovic is aiming to win his first French Open - and complete a career Grand Slam

A thunderstorm at Roland Garros had been forecast for the late afternoon in Paris