Djokovic eases through

The world number four was never troubled as he claimed a 6-3 6-1 6-3 over the 30-year-old Croatian in one hour 37 minutes.

Djokovic raced into a 3-0 lead before his opponent finally found his footing, and managed to keep the rest of the set on serve.

Ljubicic sent a forehand wide to give Djokovic three set points and, though he saved the first, an ace from the Serb gave him a deserved one-set lead.

Djokovic was immediately on top in the second set, sealing a break in game one with a backhand pass as Ljubicic crept to the net.

He then held with ease and brought up another two break points, Ljubicic handing him a 3-0 lead as he pulled another forehand wide.

With Ljubicic serving at 5-1 down, Djokovic brought up three set points with a pinpoint backhand down the line, then the Croat hacked an overhead wide to hand the set to his opponent.

It was a dominant set by Djokovic, who only conceded two points on his own serve throughout, but Ljubicic managed to keep things closer in the third.

Indeed, it went with serve until game eight when the Serb finally broke to put him 5-3 up. He quickly established two match points - and sealed the win with an ace which summed up the one-sided nature of the encounter.

He will next face either Argentina's Juan Pablo Brzezicki or Carsten Ball of Australia.