Australian Open Tennis : Navratilova Advances Easily to Quarterfinals

Martina Navratilova, who never travels without taking her mattress, pillows, sheets, towels and pasta along with her, brought her powerful forehand to the Australian Open on a sunny Monday morning.

Navratilova defeated Hana Mandlikova in fairly easy fashion, 6-4, 6-1, on center court to advance to the quarterfinals.

The second-seeded Navratilova experienced trouble only briefly in the first set before Mandlikova’s balky serve turned the match around.

Mandlikova, who served 9 double faults, was serving to go up 4-2 in the first, but double-faulted to 15-30 and again on game point.

“Her serve still needs work,” said Navratilova. “For someone who likes to serve and volley, when your serve lets you down, it’s hard to stay in it emotionally.”

Mandlikova seemed unable to stay in it at all in a lackluster second set and submitted meekly, although she said she was satisfied with getting through three rounds.

“She could have lost any of her first 3 matches,” said Mike Estep, Mandlikova’s coach and one-time coach of Navratilova.

Mandlikova said she was unsure of what shot to hit during the match, which she considered a byproduct of taking 6 months off to regroup mentally after Wimbledon.

Mandlikova, who said her goal is to return to the top 10 by the end of the year, said Navratilova is one of three players with a chance of winning this tournament. The others are Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini.

As for Navratilova’s chances, Mandlikova said: “If you lose 4 and 1, she’s obviously playing well.”

In another early match Monday, Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden also reached the quarterfinals with a fourth-round victory over Judith Wiesner of Austria, 7-5, 6-2.

In men’s competition, Jan Gunnarsson of Sweden made the quarterfinals with a 7-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Michiel Schapers of Holland.

Sunday’s results included Sabatini’s 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Rafaella Reggi. In other matches Sunday, Stefan Edberg scored a 7-5, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Johan Kriek; Steffi Graf defeated Nicole Provis, 6-4, 6-0; John McEnroe defeated Patrick Kuhnen, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2; Pat Cash defeated Jeremy Bates, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3; Magnus Gustafsson defeated Darren Cahill, 6-7, 0-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4; Zina Garrison defeated Cammy McGregor, 7-5, 6-1; Amos Mansdorf defeated Brett Garnett, 6-2, 7-5; Aaron Krickstein defeated Niclas Kroon, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4, and Thomas Muster defeated Danie Visser, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 11-9.