ANDY Murray’s path to a first grand slam title opened up after reigning champion Rafael Nadal was sensationally dumped out of the French Open.

Hours after third-seed Murray became only the third British man to make the Roland Garros quarter-finals in the Open era thanks to a straight-sets victory over Marin Cilic, unheralded Swede Robin Soderling caused a major upset by dishing out Nadal’s first defeat in the French capital in five years.

With the Spaniard the major obstacle in Murray’s half of the draw, the Scot’s chances of landing the first Major in his career have improved massively.

For the time being, Murray – the US Open runner-up last year – is content to have matched the achievements of Roger Taylor and Tim Henman, the only other British men to get this far on the Parisian clay.

‘‘Every time you do something like this, it’s nice,’’ said the British number one, speaking before Nadal’s victory.

‘‘Tim obviously made the semis here and it would be nice to try and match that.

‘‘I always felt I could play well on clay. I just needed a bit of time to find my game.

‘‘The results have got better because I’ve played more matches. That’s nice but I’ll try to go further.’’ Murray’s opponents this tournament have all praised the Briton for his improvement on clay, yet have all added ‘But he’s not Rafa’.

That may be the case but only one of the pair are still involved this year, and Murray’s superbly consistent display against 13th seed Cilic arguably makes him favourite for the title, especially with fourth seed Novak Djokovic also out.

Murray could hardly find fault with his performance, winning 7-5 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 against a player who came into the match having not dropped a set.

‘‘I came through all the tough situations well,’’ said Murray, who plays Fernando Gonzalez in the quarter-finals.

‘‘I played maybe two bad service games but you are always going to get moments like that in a best-of-five-set match.

‘‘I was obviously happy to win in straight sets because he’s been playing very well.’’ Murray made just 14 unforced errors all match, and his often cautious approach paid dividends with Cilic making sloppy mistakes on both wings.

Murray broke twice in the first set to take charge and after squandering a 4-2 lead in the second set, he was never worried in the ensuing tiebreak.

In the third set, Cilic was 3- 0 down when he called on the trainer to treat a strain in his left thigh.

The encounter was all but over by then, though, Murray clinching victory on his second match point.

‘‘I’m playing well – you don’t get to the quarters of the French by not playing good clay-court tennis,’’ added the Briton, whose best previous display here was a thirdround appearance last year.

‘‘This clay-court season has been good. It’s much better than in previous years. I try to keep improving.’’ Gonzalez, the 12th seed, should be an even tougher opponent for Murray.

The Chilean’s booming forehand was very much in evidence in his 6-2 6-4 6-2 win over 30th seed Victor Hanescu.

It was the main source of his 50 winners and the chief reason why he is yet to lose a set.