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 The last Frenchman standing in Paris sent the decibels soaring
when he stole back the third and fourth sets, but Wimbledon champion
Murray was in a hurry to take the fifth and ensure it did not become
his second two-day match of the tournament.
Whipping up the Philippe Chatrier crowd, far from capacity after
rain delayed the start of the day's play by almost three hours,
Monfils rode the Mexican waves and shouts of "Allez!" to turn the
game around.
However, Murray, who had mostly been greeted with polite applause
and a few chants from the visiting Brits, mined his own energy
reserves to steamroller the 27-year-old in the fifth and end any
dreams of Monfils emulating Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to win
their home slam in 1983.
The pair could have ended up with part or all of the final set being
played on Thursday, robbing them of a rest day before taking on clay
king Rafa Nadal for a place in the final after he came from a set
down to beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Murray had already endured a split five-setter against Germany's
Philipp Kohlschreiber to reach the last 16 on Sunday.
"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," Murray told
reporters.
"Thankfully for me he played a poor fifth set once I got ahead."
Knowing he wasted his chance for a tilt at the title, Monfils said:
"It was dark, but I really wanted to finish tonight, because I knew
that he was not in great shape. I felt better.
"Maybe that's why I was a bit rushed in attacking him. I'm very
frustrated."
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Showing few signs of the back injury that kept him out of last
year's tournament, the seventh seed had controlled play from the
baseline in the first set, although the 23rd seed kept French dreams
alive with some returns from improbable angles.
The Scot stormed to a 5-1 lead in the second, but took eight set
points to close it out after the game was briefly halted when a ball
dropped out of Murray's pocket during play, sending both players to
lobby the umpire before Murray conceded the point.
Murray, who reached his 14th grand slam semi-final with the win, was
beaten by world number one Nadal at the same stage in 2011 and
acknowledged playing him is one of the toughest challenges in
tennis.
None of Murray's 28 titles have come on clay. The last Briton to win
a title on clay was Buster Mottram in 1976.
(Reporting by Alison Williams; editing by Toby Davis)
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