Australian Open Tennis : Edberg, 21, Celebrates With Straight-Set Win

Defending champion Stefan Edberg of Sweden celebrated his 21st birthday Monday by leading three other Europeans into the quarterfinals of the $1.65 million Australian Open.

Edberg, seeded No. 4, scored a 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 victory at Kooyong over injured Robert Seguso and will meet No. 6 Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Mecir eliminated Mark Kratzmann of Australia, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Mecir has a 3-1 record over Edberg and two of those victories were on grass.

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia will meet Anders Jarryd in the quarterfinals after struggling for three hours to beat Dan Goldie, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3.

Jarryd, playing his first singles tournament since undergoing a knee operation four months ago, had difficulty in downing Peter Doohan of Australia, 6-1, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6.

Lendl has an imposing record against the Swede, having won six of their seven meetings. Jarryd’s only success was in the final of the Australian indoor championship in Sydney two years ago.

“If I can serve well, I’ll have a chance,” Jarryd said.

The second half of the fourth round will be played today when 11th-seeded Pat Cash of Australia meets Paul Annacone, Kelly Evernden of New Zealand faces Derrick Rostagno, and third-seeded Yannick Noah of France plays 14th-seeded Tim Wilkison.

Second-seeded Boris Becker of West Germany will play Wally Masur of Australia in the last match of the day on center court. Becker is reported to be suffering from a mild throat and ear infection, and officials are obviously giving him as much time as possible to recover.

While Lendl had to fight every inch of the way for his victory over Goldie, a 23-year-old Stanford graduate, Edberg found his path to the last eight rather easy.

“He could not move very well and he also made a lot of double faults,” said Edberg, who won in 65 minutes. “I would have preferred a tougher match.”

Seguso originally wanted to withdraw from the singles competition because of torn knee cartilage. But he advanced to the fourth round Sunday when he defeated Argentine Javier Frana in a four-set match.

“It’s a miracle I got this far,” Seguso said. “When I bow out of this championship I will go home and get the knee fixed.”

Edberg did not pressure Seguso at all.

“He couldn’t move freely at all,” Edberg said. “I played fairly well but I will have to work on my service.”