Grandstand Court had the first of the night matches on the ATP side of things on day 4 of the Cincinnati Masters, and it featured two North Americans: Milos Raonic of Canada, and Robby Ginepri of the United States. Raonic, the 5th seed at the Western and Southern Open, was looking to rebound after a sub-par performance in his home Masters event last week. The Canadian, who was the defending finalist, lost in the quarter-finals to Feliciano Lopez in three sets, and his return game came under question. Ginepri had received a wildcard into the main draw here, and got a strong win over Dominic Thiem in the first round, 6-3 5-7 7-5.

From the get-go it was clear that Raonic had a massive advantage over his opponent on the ground – as is the case so often for the Canadian - Ginepri simply didn’t have enough on his ground strokes to hurt Raonic. The world no. 7 started off with a love hold, then immediately broke the Ginepri serve, before another hold made it 3-0 in a matter of minutes. Ginepri dug in and played some better tennis, with two love holds to each player quickly bringing the score to 5-2. Another game was won to love, although this time Raonic broke the serve of the American, claiming the opening set 6-2 in a mere 22 minutes.

The second set saw more of the same, albeit there were no love games. The first five games went to serve, with Ginepri fighting hard to hold and Raonic breezing through with strong ground strokes and solid net play – a part of his game that has improved significantly in 2014. The American, despite the best efforts of the home crowd to rally him, couldn’t hold out any longer, dropping the last three games of the match, two of them on serve, to seal a 6-2 6-2 victory for Raonic. The stats really said it all, with Raonic compiling a winner/unforced error count of 23/19, while Ginepri managed just 4 winners to go with 16 unforced errors. Raonic won a stunning 95% (19/20) of points behind his first serve, and didn’t face a single break point for the match. A dominant display by the Canadian, as he moves on to play another American, Steve Johnson, who upset Ernests Gulbis today.

Centre Court played host to fan favourite, Gael Monfils, as he took on Roberto Bautista-Agut. RBA has been one of the biggest risers on tour this year, sitting at #18, however doesn’t get nearly as much publicity as some of his peers. He is an atypical Spaniard, preferring hard courts, and in 2014 has defeated Juan Martin Del Potro and Tomas Berdych on the surface. The 26 year-old lost to Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the Toronto Masters last week, and defeated Martin Klizan to reach the second round here in Cincinnati. The Frenchman, Monfils, didn't have it all his way against Federico Delbonis in the first round, winning in three sets 6-3 3-6 6-3, but will be hard to beat if he plays like he did against Novak Djokovic in Toronto.

Video: No Gael Monfils match is complete without a hot-shot or two, and the Frenchman explains what was going on in his mind when he played some amazing shots against Djokovic last week.

In a match that would involve many long rallies, it was an even, and entertaining start, with four holds between the combatants. During Monfils’ second service game, down 1-2, he was wrong-footed by the Spaniard, and turned his ankle, creating a doubt over his ability to continue. He pulled himself together, showed no fear, and got back to the task at hand. He held serve, and pushed Bautista-Agut the next game, eventually claiming the break on his third opportunity. No other chances were created for the set, and Monfils closed it out 6-4 in 35 minutes.

Monfils continued turning the screws in the second set, and was able to out-rally his opponent, causing Bautista-Agut to hit more errors than usual. He broke the Spaniard in the first game, held serve, broke again and held once more, making it 4-0. The world no. 18 finally got on the board for 4-1, and had a break point to get one of the breaks back, but was unsuccessful, dropping serve a final time to give Monfils a 6-4 6-1 victory in exactly one hour.

It was a night session that didn’t go as long as the fans would’ve liked, however it did showcase the immense talent that both Milos Raonic and Gael Monfils possess, and how much they bring to the sport of tennis.