The shaven-headed Croatian had last played in Dubai two months ago and was thrashed by countryman Ivan Dodig 6-0 6-3 in the principality.

The 33-year-old, who was ranked a career-high of No 3 in 2006, had already announced that this week would be his last on tour.

"It was a tough day for me, on the court and off," said an emotional Ljubicic. "I had my mind everywhere else except on the tennis court. Obviously I'm completely out of shape. I don't even think it makes any sense to talk about the match today.

"I have to say that I felt like it could end up emotionally but I didn't expect these big emotions really. It's the end of something beautiful for me. It's been 20 years and now it's time to do something else."

Ljubicic could still find himself involved in tennis in the future should he choose to pursue a European seat on the ATP board due to become vacant later this year.

In addition to Dodic, there were also straight forward wins on Sunday for ninth seed Gilles Simon, who beat local hope Benjamin Balleret 6-3 6-2, and Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who saw off another Monaco resident Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-3 6-1.