Australian Open Tennis Championships : Rain Interrupts Wilander on Way to Sunday’s Final

Mats Wilander appeared on his way to his third successive Australian Open men’s singles final today when rain halted his semifinal tennis match against Slobodan Zivojinovic of Yugoslavia.

The 21-year-old Swede, aiming to win the $1.5-million grass court tournament for the third straight year, led the unseeded Zivojinovic, 7-5, 6-1, 0-1, when tournament referee Peter Bellenger called the players from the court.

Wilander, seeded third, was playing with his right elbow bandaged but did not appear to be inconvenienced.

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia and fifth-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden will meet in the second semifinal match to determine the other Sunday finalist.

Top-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd and second-seeded Martina Navratilova will battle for the women’s title Saturday, the 67th time the two have met.

Thursday, Lloyd survived a set point against her in a 6-1, 7-6 win over West Germany’s Claudia Kohde-Kilsch. Lloyd trailed, 5-6, in the tiebreaker and clearly hit a shot out--apparently giving the set to Kohde-Kilsch. The ball was called in, however, and two points later, the American had wrapped up the match.

Meanwhile, Navratilova struggled to a 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Czechoslovakia’s Hana Mandlikova in a two-hour battle before a capacity crowd of 9,400.

Navratilova had to tell herself to calm down after dropping the first set against the player who beat her in the U.S. Open final last August.

Lendl cruised into the men’s semifinals Thursday with a 7-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Britain’s John Lloyd. Edberg defeated Dutchman Michiel Schapers, 6-0, 7-5, 6-4.

Of his match with Lendl, Edberg said: “We always have very tight matches, and I think I have a chance if I play very, very well.”

“Lendl doesn’t have any weak parts in his game, but if I serve well and get a good start, he might be a little bit shaky,” Edberg said.