Australian Open Tennis Championships : Navratilova Beats Lloyd, Winds Up No. 1

Martina Navratilova powered past defending champion Chris Evert Lloyd, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, today to win the women’s singles title in the $1.5-million Australian Open tennis championships.

The victory, worth $100,000, assured Navratilova of the No. 1 ranking for the year.

“Martina must be considered No. 1 now,” Lloyd conceded.

It was Navratilova’s third Australian Open title. Her previous victories came in 1981 and 1983. Lloyd, who received $50,000 as runner-up, was bidding for her third title.

“That was tough on the nerves,” Navratilova said after the 1-hour 44-minute match. “It seems Chris and I always play great matches.

“Even though I lost the second set, I felt in control. I knew this was it. I knew it was for the No. 1 ranking. I was going to go after it, and I did.”

Said Lloyd: “After the second set, there was a lot of pressure on both of us, and she handled it better.”

In men’s singles, defending champion Mats Wilander of Sweden moved into his third consecutive championship final, completing a 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Slobodan Zivojinovic of Yugoslavia in a match that was suspended because of rain Friday.

Wilander had his elbow packed in ice at his postmatch news conference but said the injury was improving.

“It’s no problem really,” he said. “I just ice it down and get some treatment before a match to warm it up. It still hurts a bit when I try to serve flat, but it won’t be a factor in the final.”

More rain fell during the other men’s semifinal between Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia and Stefan Edberg of Sweden, and it was suspended 10 minutes after it started, with Edberg leading, 2-1.