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INDIAN WELLS, California : Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic ousted second-seeded Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-3 Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Masters 1000.
Ljubicic, who had lost his last five meetings with Djokovic, used a strong serving performance to turn the tables on the world number two from Serbia, giving himself both of his match points in the final game with two of his 13 aces.
Djokovic saved the first, but on the second Ljubicic came up with another big serve that the Serbian could only sail back across the baseline.
Ljubicic said he was delighted to end the skid against Djokovic, calling some of those defeats "brutal".
"I'm really happy to be able to beat him finally," said Ljubicic, whose only win against Djokovic was their first meeting in Zagreb in 2006.
His most recent defeats to the Serb had come in the first round of last year's US Open, and in the quarter-finals at Dubai last month.
The tournament has now lost its top two men's seeds, after world number one Roger Federer was stunned by Marco Baghdatis in the third round on Tuesday.
- AFP /ls
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