Today was quarter-final Friday at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati and three of the four matches were slated to take place during afternoon session. While tournament organizers had the marquee match-up of Roger Federer - Andy Murray locked and loaded for prime time viewing, the trio of early matches had an awful lot of potential heading into the day.

Unfortunately none of the three lived up to the hype, with the all Spaniard battle between David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo being the only one worth watching. While the No. 6 seed managed to pull out a hard fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win, it was a rather sloppy showing from both players.

The fellow countrymen combined to commit 94 unforced errors between them, as the two slugged it out from the baseline for two plus hours. After playing at a very high level in bouncing Novak Djokoivc from the tournament in the third round, Robredo saw his performance slip drastically.

To his credit, Ferrer did what always he does, giving whatever he had until the very end and was eventually rewarded for his efforts. Mind you he did have the good fortune of pulling off a crucial service break with the score at 4-3 in the final set, courtesy of a perfectly timed net court. That said, you would be hard-pressed to find a single soul who would argue the diminutive Spaniard doesn’t earn each and every bounce that comes his way.

Ferrer will take on Julien Benneteau in semi-final number one on Saturday afternoon, as the Frenchman upset No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 in what was a head scratcher of a result. After breezing through the opening set, the 2014 Australian Open champ simply self-destructed and one could not help but wonder if he was suffering from an illness or injury. Kudos to Benneteau for making the most of the opportunity but it was a difficult match to get through.

However, it was masterpiece when compared to the quarter-final showdown between Milos Raonic and Fabio Fognini. In match which the Italian No. 1 looked as though he had to make to the airport within the hour or possibly miss his flight out of town, the hard-hitting Canadian granted him his wish with a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing.

Raonic jumped out to 3-0 double break lead before the match was even ten minutes old and had yet to make anything resembling a quality shot.  Fognini looked as though he would rather be anywhere else in the world than on the court and after looking completely disinterested for much of the opening set, the No. 15 seed called for medical assistance and received a brief rubdown to his legs but it made no difference whatsoever.

The No. 5 seed will await the winner of tonight’s Federer - Murray match and could quite possibly get his wish at another shot at the seventeen-time Grand Slam Champion, who picked apart the young Canadian during his first-ever trip to a Slam semi-final at the All England Club in early July.