Murray gains momentum in his match with Cilic but rain means he will have to start again today

British No 1 Murray, surprisingly scheduled on Court One, was left waiting for almost three hours before learning there would be no resumption last night of his match against Croatian Cilic.

Murray led 7-5 3-1 and by 40-love on serve in the fifth game of the second set, having recovered from a slow start to the contest.

He was seen leaving the grounds immediately after the announcement there would be no further play.

There had been speculation Murray and Cilic would move to continue under the closed roof on Centre.

However, Novak Djokovic’s win against Victor Troicki proved to be the last action of the day.

The forecast late-afternoon rain arrived at Wimbledon shortly before 5pm.

There had been fears during the morning that no play would be possible at all apart from on Centre Court, with poor weather predicted for most of the day, one of the busiest of the Championships on which all the fourth-round singles matches were scheduled to be played.

Murray and Cilic will be first on Court One today.

Play on Centre and Court One will start at midday, an hour earlier than usual, in an attempt to deal with the backlog of matches.

Two men’s fourth-round matches, other than Murray’s, had started but were not completed by the time play was abandoned for the day.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was a set down to Mardy Fish when their Court Two match was postponed and Florian Mayer clinched the first set of his match against Richard Gasquet before the rain came.

Both are scheduled for resumption first up on Court Two and Three respectively today, although the forecast suggests there will be rain again.

Two men’s fourth-round matches did not even start, so David Ferrer and Juan Martin del Potro will get under way today, as will Brian Baker and Philipp Kohlschreiber, weather permitting.

All fourth-round women’s matches were completed yesterday, although not without controversy. The 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone complained it was “dangerous” to continue playing her game against Petra Kvitova on Court Two – a clash that she ultimately lost 6-4 5-7 1-6.

The Italian was angry at organisers for not suspending play when drizzle started to wet the grass.

“Yes, of course (it was dangerous),” Schiavone said.

“When it’s humid, the grass, you can’t play. It doesn’t matter if it’s an important moment in the match or not.”

Roger Federer and Xavier Malisse had to leave Centre Court for 40 minutes during a shower, but the £80m retractable roof was not called up until Victoria Azarenka took on Ana Ivanovic following the Swiss man’s four-set win.

Many observers questioned why the roof was not closed in the morning with the weather having been predicted to be so bad, but six-time champion Federer said he was glad the roof remained open.

“I was happy they kept it open because it’s an outdoor tournament,” Federer said.

“We don’t want to play indoors all the time. It’s not that big of a deal coming on and off.”

Former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, meanwhile has weighed into the debate over equal pay by claiming the current men’s players should complain.

New ATP player council member Gilles Simon caused a stir last week when he argued the men’s game is more entertaining than the women’s and claimed this should be reflected in the financial rewards.

Ivanisevic, winner of the Wimbledon title in 2001, said: “Men and women aren’t paid the same. Women are paid more. Look at how much time the women spend on court – they play fewer sets, less time on court.

“Victoria Azarenka beats Ana Ivanovic 6-1 6-0 in half an hour or something to reach the quarter-finals, and the men could be out there for six or seven hours, and then everyone is paid the same.”