A few spectators wander around on the center court of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on Monday. Photo: IC

The French Open suffered its first complete washout since 2000 on Monday when all scheduled matches were cancelled due to heavy rain.

"Due to weather, there will be no matches played at #RG16 today," said the Roland Garros Twitter feed.

There could be more problems on Tuesday with further rain forecast throughout the day before conditions brighten Wednesday.

Eight last-16 matches planned for Monday plus two more which had ­already been held over from Sunday night will now be played on Tuesday.

Three quarterfinals are also due to take place Tuesday - Andy Murray against Richard Gasquet and defending champion Stan Wawrinka in the men's event while Shelby Rogers was to face Garbine Muguruza in the women's singles.

Play had been set to get underway at 11:00 on Monday but was eventually called off just before 14:00.

"All cancelled for today - rain, rain go away," tweeted Czech seventh seed ­Tomas Berdych who was due to face ­former runner-up David Ferrer of Spain for a last-eight spot.

This year's Roland Garros was hit by rain delays on the opening Sunday when just 10 of the scheduled 32 opening-round ties were completed in a little over four hours of play.

The second day was then hit by ­another two-and-a-half-hour delay. That in turn pushed 12 of the scheduled 66 matches back to the first Tuesday.

There was a two-and-a-half-hour stoppage on Saturday followed by another hour on Sunday, which meant that the planned last-16 program remained ­unfinished.

Under the original schedule, all of the fourth round was to be completed on Monday, leaving Tuesday and Wednesday for the quarterfinals. But if there are further delays on Tuesday, world No.1 Novak Djokovic, who is chasing a first French Open to complete the career Grand Slam, could end up playing his last-16 tie on Wednesday, quarterfinal on Thursday and semifinal on Friday.

Djokovic is poised to become the first man to win $100 million in prize ­money if he makes the quarterfinals for the 10th time. The top seed tackles Spain's 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, boasting a 4-0 ­career lead over the 28-year-old Spaniard.

In other men's last-16 ties still to be played, Belgian 12th seed David Goffin faces unpredictable Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a semifinalist in 2014.

Austrian 13th seed Dominic Thiem faces Spain's Marcel Granollers with both men trying to make the last eight of a Slam for the first time.

Granollers reached the last 16 without hitting a ball when nine-time champion Nadal pulled out of the tournament with a wrist injury.

In the women's last 16, top seed and defending champion Serena Williams will continue her bid for a record-­equaling Open era 22nd Grand Slam title.

The 34-year-old takes on Ukraine's Elina Svitolina who is being advised in Paris by Justine Henin, one of Williams' former great rivals on the tour and a four-time French Open champion.

The two fourth-round ties that were suspended saw second seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 3-0 up on Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova. Sixth seed Simona Halep of Romania was leading Australian veteran Samantha Stosur 5-3.