Argentina's Juan Monaco bounced from Indian Wells

Indian Wells, California, Mar 18 (EFE).- Argentina's Juan Monaco was eliminated here Thursday from the BNP Paribas Open, falling in three sets in the quarterfinals to big-serving Croat Ivan Ljubicic 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The Argentine dodged some early trouble on serve in the first set before earning the first break of the match in the seventh game when Ljubicic hit a backhand volley wide of the sideline.

Monaco then proceeded to hold serve two more times to take the first set.

Ljubicic, however, took control of the match early in the second set and never looked back, combining strong serving with solid baseline play.

The Croat's superior serve was the biggest difference in the match as he struck 11 aces and won 75 percent of his service points, while Monaco hit just two aces and won only 56 percent of the points on his serve.

Ljubicic will next play the winner of Thursday evening's match between Spain's Rafael Nadal and Czech Tomas Berdych.

The BNP Paribas Open is one of nine Masters Series events, which rank just below the four Grand Slam tournaments and the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in terms of prestige and ranking points.