Australian Open Tennis : Junior Champion Now Stands in Edberg’s Way

No. 2-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open tennis championships Saturday and now faces a David and Goliath battle with Jason Stoltenberg, Australia’s top junior.

Edberg, the defending champion, defeated Dan Goldie, a former Stanford NCAA champion from McLean, Va., 6-4, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, to join compatriots Mats Wilander and Anders Jarryd in the round of 16.

On Monday, Edberg will meet 17-year-old Stoltenberg, the son of a cotton farmer from the Outback of New South Wales, who is ranked 330th in the world.

Stoltenberg, the world’s No. 1 junior last year, advanced with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Joey Rive.

In 1987, Stoltenberg won the Australian Junior Championship, reached the Wimbledon and French junior finals and advanced to the U.S. junior semifinals.

In anticipation of his match against Edberg, Stoltenberg said:”I’m just going out to play my own game to get all the experience possible against one of the world’s best competitors.”

Edberg, on the other hand, isn’t looking forward to the match.

“You never really know what’s going to happen in a match like that because he has nothing to lose,” Edberg said. “It’s nice when you’re young and playing in front of your home crowd because everyone gets behind you.”

Wilander, seeded No. 3, eliminated fellow Swede Magnus Gustafsson, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1, while Jarryd, seeded No. 6, downed Paul Chamberlin of Newport Beach, Calif., 7-5, 6-1, 6-2.

The only seeded player to lose Saturday was Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Zivojinovic, seeded No. 8, who was upset by West Germany’s Carl-Uwe Steeb, 6-4, 7-5, 2-6, 1-6, 6-3.

Edberg, one of four Swedes remaining in the $1.9 million Grand Slam event, said he felt better on Saturday than in other matches he played.

“But I’m still going to have to play better to win the tournament,” he said. “Ivan Lendl, Pat Cash and Mats Wilander are all playing good. I’m not playing that good.”

Wilander, a two-time champion, next meets unseeded Christian Saceanu of West Germany, while Jarryd plays John Frawley of Australia in the fourth round.

Frawley downed Jim Grabb of Tucson, Ariz., in a five-set marathon, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4. Saceanu beat Jerome Potier of France, 6-2, 6-1, 7-5, and the Soviet Union’s No. 1 player, Andrei Chesnokov, defeated Mark Kratzmann of Australia, 7-5, 7-6, 6-2.

In women’s singles, No. 1-seeded Steffi Graf continued her quest for her second Grand Slam title with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Cammy MacGregor of Palm Springs, Calif., in only 49 minutes.

Graf, the French Open champion, will now meet No. 13-seeded Catarina Lindqvist in a match which she predicts will be her toughest yet. The Swede holds a 2-1 record over Graf.

“I know she is going to be difficult, much more difficult,” Graf said. “I know I have to be more prepared.”

Lindqvist, a semifinalist here last year, scored a 6-1, 6-4 win over Robin White of San Jose, Calif.

Defending champion Hana Mandlikova defeated Catherine Tanvier of France, 6-4, 6-3.

No. 4-seeded Pam Shriver and No. 9-seeded Lori McNeil also won Saturday, along with No. 8-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of West Germany and Australian Anne Minter.

Shriver scored a 6-3, 6-3 win over Nicole Jagerman of the Netherlands; McNeil rolled past Jenny Byrne of Australia, 6-4, 6-2; Kohde-Kilsch downed Melissa Brown of Scarsdale, N.Y., 6-2, 6-1, and Ann Minter outplayed Carol Christian of Highland, Calif., 6-1, 6-4.