Tennis Roundup : Navratilova, Mandlikova Easy Winners

Defending champion Martina Navratilova and Czechoslovakia’s Hana Mandlikova posted straight-set victories Tuesday in the first round of the $1-million Virginia Slims Championships tennis tournament.

Navratilova, seeded No. 1, crushed Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-3, 6-0, and Mandlikova, seeded third, defeated Terry Phelps, 6-2, 6-4.

Earlier, Pam Shriver, seeded fifth, defeated Raffaella Reggi of Italy, 6-3, 6-1.

The singles winner of the week-long event, billed as the world’s richest women’s tournament, will win $125,000, and the runner-up will collect $60,000.

Although Lindqvist has not beaten Navratilova in five career meetings, the Swede has always given her trouble, taking her to three sets in their last meeting earlier this year. It was something Navratilova remembered.

“I had a special incentive not to get down match points to her,” Navratilova said. “It’s not that I underestimated her last time, but she played better and I was slower.

“I wanted to show her, as well as myself, what I could do because I haven’t played well against her in the past.”

Lindqvist battled Navratilova on even terms through the first four games. But after that, it was all Navratilova.

Third-seeded Aaron Krickstein overcame a service break in the opening game of the match to defeat Chile’s Ricardo Acuna, 6-4, 7-6, in first-round action at the WCT Houston Shootout.

When Krickstein led, 5-2, in the tiebreaker, Acuna hit three unreturnable shots, making the score 6-5 with Krickstein to serve.

“You can’t do too much about it,” Krickstein said of Acuna’s winners. “Had I lost that point at 6-5, all the pressure would have been back on me.”

Instead, he relied on his overpowering forehand to win the point and the match.

Sixth-seeded Slobodan Zivojinovic of Yugoslavia battled his way to the second round with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Mike Leach.