Australian Open Tennis Championships : Cash Wastes Little Time, Beats McNamee, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1

Wimbledon champion Pat Cash says there are no friends on the tennis court when he is playing.

Cash made the comment Friday after rolling to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 victory over compatriot and close friend Paul McNamee in the Australian Open.

McNamee, a former Davis Cup player, announced before the event that it would be his last before retirement.

Cash said that made no difference in his approach to the match.

“We are great friends off the court, but on the court we are enemies,” he said.

“I gave 100% because I know he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Cash said his purpose was to win matches.

“That’s what matters, and I feel I am playing better with every game.”

Cash, seeded fourth, joined top-ranked Ivan Lendl and fifth-seeded Yannick Noah of France in the round of 16 after both players overcame searing heat to score third-round victories.

Two seeded players bowed out in stifling 100-degree-plus heat, seventh-seeded Henri Leconte of France losing to Todd Witsken of Carmel, Ind., 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, and 12th-seeded Christo van Rensburg of South Africa bowing, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, to Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands.

Leconte was later fined $500 for unsportsmanlike conduct after hitting Witsken in the leg with a ball during the match.

“It was an accident,” Leconte said.

Other men to advance included 14th-seeded Jonas Svensson of Sweden and 16th-seeded Wally Masur of Australia.

Svensson defeated countryman Niklas Kroon, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Masur beat Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Lendl, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, was never seriously troubled by Australian left-hander Mark Woodforde, defeating him, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

“I paced myself because the heat was so unbelievable,” Lendl said.

In women’s play, two-time Australian champion Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova both dropped sets before winning.

Evert lost the first set before overcoming 22-year-old Patty Fendick of Sacramento, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, while Navratilova beat 19-year-old Akiko Kijimuta of Japan, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Navratilova will now face 11th-seeded Sylvia Hanika of West Germany in the round of 16 while Evert will meet Celine Cohen of Switzerland.

Cohen will be playing the first fourth-round match of her career after scoring a 4-6, 6-1, 9-7 win over Lea Antonoplis of Los Angeles.

Sixth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia and 10th-seeded Barbara Potter scored straight-set victories.