Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is just two games away from a place in the French Open quarter-finals but he will have to return to Roland Garros on Monday to try and finish the job.
The home hope was leading Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 7-6 3-6 3-6 4-2 when the fourth-round match was suspended due to darkness at just after 9.30pm local time.
Wawrinka recovered from two sets down to beat Tsonga at this event last season and a repeat looked very possible when he recovered from losing two tight opening sets to level the match.
However, the fifth-seeded Tsonga raced into a 4-1 lead at the start of the deciding set before Wawrinka gave himself hope by holding serve just before it was decided that it was too murky to continue.
The match will resume on Monday and the winner will face top seed Novak Djokovic in the last eight.
Djokovic and Roger Federer are the only men to have reached the quarter-finals so far because Juan Martin Del Potro and Tomas Berdych will also have to complete their fourth round tie on Monday.
Having won the first set on a tie-break, Del Potro was hammered in the second, but he recovered to win the third and leads 7-6 1-6 6-3 overnight, with Federer awaiting the winner.
