Andy Murray makes light of the weather delays as he eases to a first Rome final

Come rain or shine, there is no stopping Andy Murray. On a frustrating day when rain showers and sunny periods took it in turns to prevail, Murray reached the final of the Rome Masters here for the first time when he beat France’s Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-1.

With the French Open just a week away the world No 3 demonstrated again that he can be a major contender at Roland Garros. Since winning his first title on clay just 13 months ago Murray has repeatedly proved that he need no longer have any inferiority complex on a surface which used to be so challenging for him.

The Scot’s clay-court performances in the last month have been outstanding. In three Masters Series tournaments on the surface he has reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo, where he lost to Rafael Nadal, and the final in Madrid, where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic. In Sunday's final he will face either Djokovic or Kei Nishikori, who met in the second semi-final.

Murray, who will return to No 2 in the world rankings on Monday, never looked in danger against Pouille, who was meeting the Scot for the first time. Striking the ball sweetly and dominating the vast majority of the rallies, Murray did not face any break points and needed only 59 minutes to complete a decisive victory. The match was over so quickly that afterwards Murray went back out on to the practice court for 20 minutes.

Pouille had never reached the quarter-finals of a Masters Series event before this week. The 22-year-old Frenchman lost in the final round of qualifying here but was handed a place in the main draw – and a first-round bye – when he replaced the injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a “lucky loser”.

With Juan Monaco also withdrawing from his scheduled quarter-final against Pouille because of injury, the Frenchman needed to win only two matches – against Ernests Gulbis and David Ferrer – to reach the last four. He was only the second lucky loser ever to reach the last four of a Masters Series tournament following Thomas Johansson, who lost to Roger Federer in the Toronto semi-finals in 2004.

Pouille, nevertheless, is regarded as a player of great promise. Already at a career-high No 52 in the world rankings, he is expected to climb another 20 places next week. Beating Ferrer on clay for the loss of just five games in the third round here was no mean achievement, while David Goffin was among his three victims in Madrid last week.

Garbine Muguruza and Madison Keys had been due to open proceedings in the main stadium, but with the start of play delayed by three and a half hours by almost constant rain their semi-final was moved to another court. Instead it was Murray and Pouille who took the stage just before 3.30pm in a stadium that was barely half full.

“That was maybe the first time in my career – and I've played over 700 matches - where I have actually gone on the court without actually getting to hit a ball before the match started,” Murray said later. “We were having lunch, walked back over [to the stadium] and were told the schedule was going to be moved and that we would be the first match on. I had 45 minutes to get ready, though I’m obviously glad we got on and got the match done.”

Murray wasted no time stamping his authority on the match, breaking serve in the fourth game with a forehand pass down the line. The Scot was serving at 4-2 and 40-0 when rain forced the players off court for 13 minutes, but the break did nothing to halt his momentum.

Pouille saved two set points when he served at 2-5 but gifted Murray a third when putting a smash directly into the Scot's hitting zone and was beaten by a forehand cross-court pass. A missed forehand on the next point gave Murray the set.

At 1-1 in the second set rain started to fall again, but the players stayed on court. Some of the crowd huddled under umbrellas, but Murray clearly had no desire to go off for another break. He did not lose another game and completed the most emphatic of victories with an ace.

“Andy is a great player,” Pouille said afterwards. “He returns all your serves, so if you don't have a great first serve percentage then it's very tough. He's very offensive and puts pressure on your serves.”

Murray will celebrate his 29th birthday on Sunday. “I haven't won many matches on my birthday before, to be honest,” he admitted. “Hopefully tomorrow that will change.”