Australian Open Tennis Championships : Navratilova Breezes, Mandlikova Struggles to Gain Final

Martina Navratilova and Hana Mandlikova advanced today to the women’s singles final in the $1.65-million Australian Open tennis championships.

Navratilova, seeking her second straight Australian Open title, polished off 10th-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-3, 6-2, after Mandlikova outlasted West Germany’s Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, 6-1, 0-6, 6-3.

Navratilova’s serve-and-volley game was too much for the 23-year-old Swedish baseliner, who had upset third-seeded Pam Shriver in the quarterfinals. The world’s No. 1-ranked player dominated the net as Shriver failed to do, restricting Lindqvist’s chances.

Navratilova, 30, lost to Mandlikova in the final of the 1985 U.S. Open. But since then she has won their last nine meetings.

Her semifinal victory ran Navratilova’s latest match winning streak to 58 straight, second only to her record of 74 in a row that was snapped in the Australian Open in 1984. She also has a 54-match streak.

Mandlikova was pushed to the maximum by Claudia Kohde-Kilsch as she stayed on course for a try at her second Australian Open singles title. The 24-year-old Mandlikova won the event in 1980.

The men’s semifinals Friday will send top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia against Australia’s Pat Cash, and defending champion Stefan Edberg of Sweden, seeded fourth, against unseeded Wally Masur of Australia.

Masur, a sturdy Australian ranked just 71st in the world, defeated New Zealander Kelly Evernden, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, Wednesday. Edberg stopped Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Cash, the star of Australia’s Davis Cup champions, defeated third-seeded Yannick Noah of France, 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 6-0. Lendl stopped ninth-seeded Anders Jarryd of Sweden, 7-6, 6-1, 6-3.