This dense little kernel is so potentially dangerous that some restaurants no longer sell cherry pies because if just one seed is not removed, teeth can get broken and a lawsuit could ensue.
Venus, the fourth seed at the clay court tournament, was broken early and lost the opener to the 15th-seeded Italian, but recovered to win the next two sets easily for a 3-6 6-1 6-2 win.
That appeared to deflate Murray and the 23-year-old Scot was broken again as Ljubicic moved through to a semi-final encounter with eighth seed Ferrer, who upset Sweden's third seed Robin Soderling 6-2 6-4.