French Open Tennis Championships : Lendl, Navratilova, Evert Win in Straight Sets

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova, and seven-time champion Chris Evert, returned order to the French Open with straight-set victories Friday that took them into the fourth round.

Navratilova, twice the winner at Roland Garros, and third-seeded Evert had struggled a little in earlier rounds.

But they were merciless Friday in defeating opponents in less than an hour. Navratilova beat Austria’s Petra Huber, 6-1, 6-1, in 47 minutes and Evert defeated Eva Krapl of Switzerland in 50 minutes, 6-2, 6-0.

Lendl had slightly more trouble with France’s Thierry Tulasne before winning, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2, to set up a fourth-round meeting with Sweden’s Joakim Nystrom, who defeated Darren Cahill of Australia, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4.

Another Czechoslovakian, Karel Novacek, ousted France’s Eric Winogradsky, 6-1, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4. Winogradsky had upset third-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden in the second round.

Fifth-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia also won, defeating countryman Milan Srejber, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.

Mecir’s next opponent is Frenchman Patrice Kuchna, the lowest-ranked player still left in contention at No. 325 in the world. Kuchna beat Jim Pugh of Palos Verdes, Calif., 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

France’s Nathalie Tauziat also defeated an American with a 6-1 6-3 upset of 10th-seeded Kathy Rinaldi.

Rinaldi was almost joined on the sidelines by men’s No. 10 Andres Gomez, who outlasted Jay Berger of Plantation, Fla., 5-7, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In other matches, fifth-seeded Helena Sukova advanced to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3 win over 16-year-old Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union, and eighth-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of West Germany defeated Carling Bassett of Canada, 7-5, 6-3.

Friday was the first day that no men’s seeded player was eliminated.

“It’s going to take an extremely good game to beat me,” said Lendl, regaining his clay-court confidence after losing in the third round of the Italian Open earlier this month to Nystrom.

Navratilova and Evert also were pleased with the improvement in their play.

“I wanted to have a match without a letup for even a single point,” Navratilova said. “I don’t see why I can’t do it again.

“Today, I put it all together. This is the best I’ve played--and I did it the whole match.”

Said Evert: “I was a little sharper today, it helps to get a tough match in. Sometimes you struggle a little bit, but in the long run it is for the good.”

It was Evert’s first meeting against Krapl.

“They’re always dangerous opponents if you’ve never played them before,” said Evert, 34. “If they reach the third round, they can’t be that bad.”

Evert next meets 12th-seeded Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, who beat Kate Gompert of Rancho Mirage, Calif., 7-6, 6-1. Navratilova faces 15th-seeded Sylvia Hanika of West Germany, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Italy’s Laura Garrone.