Tennis Roundup : Navratilova Escapes on a Day of Upsets in Australian Event

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova cruised to a 6-2 6-1 victory over Molly Van Nostrand, avoiding a second-round upset epidemic in the $150,000 New South Wales Open tennis tournament Wednesday at Sydney, Australia.

Ninth-seeded Kathy Jordan trailed Rosalyn Fairbank of South Africa, 6-1, 3-3, when she was forced to default after suffering a knee injury.

Janine Thompson of Australia upset eighth-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-4, 6-0; Svetlana Cherneva of the Soviet Union surprised 11th-seeded Jo Durie of Britain, 6-3, 6-3, and Belinda Cordwell of New Zealand ousted 12th-seeded Pascale Paradis of France, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia defeated Candy Reynolds, 6-1, 6-4; 13th-seeded Elise Burgin eliminated Caterina Skronska of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and 14th-seeded Christianne Jolissaint of Switzerland downed Barbara Gerken, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.

Bud Schultz upset eighth-seeded John Sadri, 6-2, 7-5, and advanced to the quarterfinals of a $200,000 men’s tournament at Hong Kong.

Second-seeded Tomas Smid of Czechoslovakia struggled to a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Australian John Frawley; sixth-seeded Aaron Krickstein beat Tim Wilkison, 6-2, 6-3; seventh-seeded Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland defeated Israel’s Amos Mandsorf, 6-4, 6-4, and Jonathan Canter turned back Larry Stefanki, 6-4, 6-2.