Novak Djokovic of Serbia eased into the last 16 of Shanghai Masters with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Croatian Ivan Ljubicic on Wednesday.

It was the 23-year-old Serbian's seventh triumph out of the two's nine meetings.

As the second seed, Djokovic automatically advanced into the second round, while Ljubicic had just escaped from a 153-minute match against local favorite Zhang Ze the day before.

Exhausted Ljubicic struggled to find his rhythm at the beginning, finding himself 0-3 behind after three games. The veteran managed to hold serve in the fourth game, but his efforts were not enough to stop the opponent eight years his junior, from claiming the first set 6-3.

Ljubicic got a better start in the second set, but he ran into problems with his right arm afterwards. Djokovic broke twice to finish the match 6-3.