Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic rallied to beat Juan Monaco 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Indian Wells ATP Masters.

A day after his victory over world number two Novak Djokovic, Ljubicic showed no sign of a letdown.

The former world number three, now ranked 26th in the world, scattered 11 aces through the one hour, 47 minute contest on Thursday, finishing it off with three service winners.

“I really played some great tennis, and I felt really creative out there,” Ljubicic said. “I played all different shots: lobs, dropshots, volleys, winners, slices. I felt I could hit the ball anywhere.”

“I was a little bit upset after I lost that service game in the first set,” Ljubicic added of the loose game that saw him go down 4-3. “Cost me the whole set. It was really the only bad game that I played in the whole match.”

“But I was lucky enough to be able to break him early in the second, which was really important to relax and keep playing my game.”

Ljubicic, who celebrates his 31st birthday on Friday, improved on his best 2010 performance to date - a quarter-final run at Dubai last month. The last time he made it as far as the semi-finals in a prestigious Masters 1000 event was in Miami in 2007, and the last time he reached the semis of any ATP event was at Lyon last October - where he went on to win his ninth career title.

“It’s good,” Ljubicic said. “I got a phone call from my brother just after the match. He said that Croatian time zone I finish just a couple seconds before birthday, so it’s fantastic.”

“It’s a great win and a great present to have a day off just before the semi-finals.”