British number one Andy Murray overcame world number 24 Philip Kohlschreiber, in Sunday’s postponed event on Court Suzzane Lenglen.
Germany’s Kohlschreiber continued his dazzling clay-court run, which saw him force Novak Djokovic to three sets in Rome.
But the Scot was poised to avert a previous disappointment at the Monte Carlo the last time out on his way to claiming a 3-6 6-3 6-3 4-6 12-10 win.
Fading lights forced the five-set epic to a halt at 7-7 on Saturday night but on resumption of play the seventh seed played with more determination.
Murray will immediately take on Fernando Verdasco on Monday for a place in the last eight, both players working through after the Spaniard’s match against Richard Gasquet was also interrupted by bad light on Saturday night.
“Last night was tough as I did a lot of running,” said Murray. “Philip Kohlschreiber played some great tennis end of fourth and fifth sets yesterday.
“Considering the circumstances today I thought we played some very good tennis.
“I didn’t sleep much last night and woke up a few times. I slept about five hours.
“I was very nervous. I just tried to do my usual preparations but it is not easy coming back 7-7.”
Verdasco eventually sealed a 6-3 6-2 6-3 over home favourite Gasquet, setting up his eleventh game against the reigning Wimbledon champion, against whom he has only recorded just a victory having lost nine of those matches.
With the tension evident from the first ball struck, Murray held twice and earned the first match point of the contest at 9-8, only for Kohlschreiber to thump away a smash.
The German, seeded 28th, had a chance in the following game but Murray saved break point with a heavy first serve, and at 9-9 the Scot enjoyed some fortune with a net cord at 15-30.
The momentum swung back in Murray’s favour and he attacked the Kohlschreiber serve once again to move to 15-40, and two more match points.
He stepped in on a Kohlschreiber second serve and smacked away a backhand return to finally end the contest after four hours and seven minutes over the two days.
“I need to try to recover as best I can,” said the Scot. “Yesterday I was cramping so maybe it was a good thing the match was stopped.
“The muscles were a bit sore today but, hopefully, if I do the right recovery I will be OK and fight as hard as I can to try to get through to the next round.”
(Game analysis by the BBC’s Piers Newbery)
