Croatia's rising star Ivan Ljubicic made light work of former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, cruising to a crushing straight sets victory at Melbourne Park.

Ljubicic put on an incredible exhibition of shot-making from both the backhand and forehand sides to down the 2002 champion Johansson 6-2 6-4 6-4 in less than two hours.

It took the seventh seed into the quarter-finals of a grand slam tournament for the first time in his career and he is in dazzling form, having not dropped a set in the tournament.

His quarter-final opponent will be Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

It promises to be an entertaining match after Baghdatis also put on a stunning show in his shock victory over American second seed Andy Roddick.

It should also inspire plenty of crowd involvement, with both Baghdatis and Ljubicic having had vocal and passionate supporter bands helping them to victory.

Ljubicic's form follows an excellent year in 2005, in which he won two tournaments and climbed into the world top 10.

Even more impressive was his performance in guiding Croatia to its first ever Davis Cup title, with Ljubicic compiling an 11-1 record for singles and doubles combined in the Cup for the year.

He had Johansson's measure throughout the match, responding to almost any hint of pressure with a thundering serve or well-struck shot in a near-faultless display.

Ljubicic was only down a break point once during the match, while serving for the first set.

So great was Johansson's frustration at being unable to dent the Croatian's game, he smashed a racquet after losing his own serve during the third set.

Johansson's exit from the tournament left world No.1 Roger Federer, who won this event in 2004, as the only former Open champion still in the men's draw.

Other recent winners Marat Safin and Andre Agassi were both prevented by injury from playing in this year's tournament.

It also ended Sweden's presence in the singles draw.

Ljubicic said he was out for revenge against Baghdatis after losing to him in the second round last year.

"Actually I would prefer Andy Roddick because I beat him the last two times and I really felt comfortable the last few times on court against him," Ljubicic said.

"But I don't mind playing Baghdatis because I have some unpaid cheques.

"That loss last year really hurt a lot and I'm really glad to have the chance for revenge."

Ljubicic also said he would have no trouble coping with a vocal crowd supporting the Cypriot.

"I think I have some experience with Davis Cup now so I know how to cope with that," he said.

He said every part of his game was working perfectly, with his confidence stemming from his improvement last year.

"There's no secret that the confidence is really high and I know exactly what I can do and what I can't," he said.

"From the backhand, forehand, serve, volley, everything was working perfectly, so there was no reason not to put it away."

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