If Andy Murray is going to win a record-equalling fourth title at Queen's Club then he's going to have to do it the hard way by winning twice in one day.

Rain forced completion of his semi-final against Viktor Troicki to be held over until today, with the scores tied at 3-3 and with Murray holding break point on the Serb's serve.

The timing of the interruption was also untimely for Murray as it came immediately after Troicki slipped over, seemingly injuring his left shoulder.

The Serb was apparently ready to play when the covers were pulled on to the court but he had yet to test the injury and a night to recover will doubtless aid his chances of reaching a second straight grass-court final.

The match will resume at 11am, with the final to follow, not before 2.25pm.

With South Africa's Kevin Anderson having seen off Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to reach his first grass-court final, the delay was an obvious blow to Murray's hopes, leaving him little time to recover.

Considering the forecast had suggested heavy showers from mid-afternoon, organisers of the Aegon Championships were asking for trouble by not playing the two semi-finals at the same time, on adjacent courts. At least Murray has experience of playing more than one match in a day. In Munich last month, the Scot played two singles and a doubles on the Saturday before going on to win a final played over two days, again because of rain.

It's hardly ideal but Murray looked in good form in the 33 minutes he was on court, though he would have loved to have taken one of the four break points he has already had in the seventh game.

Troicki, who reached the final in Stuttgart last week, defended well behind his serve but failed to make much impression on the Murray service, which looked in a good groove.

Murray and Troicki would have been a lot closer to finishing their match had Anderson managed to close out the ever-dogged Simon in straight sets.

The South African had a match point in the second-set tie-break at 6-5 but Simon snatched it 8-6 only for Anderson to step up a gear in the third and reach the final of a grass-court event for the first time.

"It's going to be a big match," he said. "I'm really looking forward to it. It's a tournament I remember watching at a very young age. Everybody knew Queen's is the week before Wimbledon and you have the best players in the world playing it. To be in the final myself feels great, and it's going to be a very big match for me."

A consistent performer in the Grand Slams, though a man who's never gone beyond the last 16, Anderson will be aiming for his third ATP Tour crown.

His tally of 96 aces for the week reflects the dominance of his serve and Anderson said he'd been feeling confident since the start of the tournament, thanks, in part, to some extra practice at the home of a golf legend in Florida.

"I was actually very lucky," he said. "I was able to get up to Jack Nicklaus' house. He's got three courts up in Jupiter. It's only 30 minutes away from me. That was pretty special. He was out there watching the practices in the beginning."

"My coach back home, Jay Bosworth, he's been living there for ages, and he made some calls. The tennis community is small so when somebody has three grass courts, most people know about it.

"Fortunately Jack was kind enough to let us hit there. I think he's let other pros come out before. I know Ivan Lendl did it way back with Jay, as well. It was a nice few days up there."

The rain will have softened up the courts here and Anderson said the more slick conditions could work in his favour.

"Generally speaking, on other surfaces, I much prefer playing in the warmer conditions," he said. "The ball bounces up a bit more.

"Grass seems to have a bit of a different effect. The ball stays a bit lower and shoots through the court more. Especially if I was going after my serve, it really seemed to be going through a lot.

"When Gilles was hitting, it was pretty tough to get back. You can't get the ball to bounce up as much, but I think it really helps especially the first serve."

Laura Robson made her long-awaited return yesterday after 17 months out following wrist surgery and despite a 6-1, 6-0 defeat by Daria Gavrilova of Australia in Eastbourne qualifying, said she was delighted to be back.

"In a way it was a victory to just finish a match and be back on court, back playing tournaments and I'm very happy," she said.

"I still went out there with the intention of winning, you never go out there just hoping to get through, but it was a lot closer than the score suggested, that's the way I thought anyway. But I know what I can do and I still have so much work to do."

Robson added that she was hopeful of receiving a wild-card for Wimbledon. The 21-year-old reached the fourth round on her last appearance at the All England Club in 2013.

"It's my home tournament, it's my favourite tournament of the year for sure, so I would love to get a chance to play, but we'll see, I haven't heard anything," she said.