Andy Murray into semi-finals after taming Kei Nishikori

The world number one struggled with his opponent’s explosive baseline hitting on Philippe Chatrier, but slowly warmed to his task in windy conditions as he secured a 2-6 6-1 7-6(0) 6-1 victory.

"He was dictating all the points in the first set, making me move a lot. It was quite windy today and that made it difficult. Once I found a bit of rhythm I started to control things a little bit more," Murray said on court afterwards.

Bizarrely, Murray was belatedly inspired into form by a code violation from chair umpire Carlos Ramos early in the second set. The Brit was disciplined for taking too long between points on serve, prompting disbelief from last year’s runner-up.

However, it had the desired effect. Murray won the next two points in deuce and upped his volume, before completing a five-game streak to take the second set.

Nishikori settled again in the third set to force a tie-break, but the Japanese eighth seed imploded when it mattered – losing all seven points with a flurry of unforced errors.

He appeared jaded from that point on, immediately surrendering an early break in the fourth set as Murray reeled off six games on the spin to reach the last four.

Murray’s clash with Wawrinka is a repeat of the 2016 semi-final in Paris, which the Brit won in four sets.

"Obviously he's played fantastically at this tournament so far. Last year he was also playing really well and I had to play one of my best matches on clay to beat him," Murray added.

"It will be tough but I'll fight as hard as I can. I'm happy to be in the semis again. It's not always been easy for me here."

Rafael Nadal meets Dominic Thiem, conqueror of defending champion Novak Djokovic, in the other clash.

1-Andy Murray (Britain) beat 8-Kei Nishikori (Japan) 2-6 6-1 7-6(0) 6-1

3-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) beat 7-Marin Cilic (Croatia) 6-3 6-3 6-1

6-Dominic Thiem (Austria) beat 2-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-0

4-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat 20-Pablo Carreno (Spain) 6-2 2-0 (Carreno retired)