Lendl Moves Ahead in Australia : Top-Ranked Player Defeats American in Second Round

Ivan Lendl, the world’s top-ranked player, slammed down 14 aces en route to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over American Leif Shiras in the second round of the $492,500 Australian Indoor Tennis Championships today.

Two-time champion Lendl breezed through the first set, then outfought Shiras in the second, winning in one hour, 13 minutes.

The Czech is to face unseeded Swede Thomas Hogstedt in Friday’s quarterfinals of the 32-player Grand Prix event.

Defending champion Slobodan Zivojinovic of Yugoslavia, the fifth seed, also advanced to the quarterfinals today with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over West German qualifier Alexander Mronz.

In other second-round action, Swedish-born Australian teen-ager Johan Anderson beat West German Christian Saceanu 6-1, 6-3, and Australian Mark Woodforde beat compatriot Richard Fromberg 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Niclas Kroon of Sweden, winner of last week’s Queensland Open at Brisbane, also advanced to the last eight, with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Australian Davis Cup player Darren Cahill.

Kroon earned a quarterfinal match against Australian Mark Woodforde, whom he beat in the final at Brisbane.

In other action tonight, Australian Jason Stoltenberg, the 18-year-old son of a cotton farmer from the outback town of Wee Waa, saved two match points in the 12th game of the second set and went on to a 6-7 (0-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over compatriot Mark Kratzmann.

Lendl and Zivojinovic are the only seeds remaining in the tournament, which ends Sunday.

At the rain-plagued Hong Kong Tennis Championships, meanwhile, defending champion Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia overpowered Ecuador’s Andres Gomez 6-1, 6-2 today and advanced to the second round.

The match was halted for 2 1/2 hours because of a steady rain that caused postponement of four first-round matches.

French Open champion Michael Chang of Placentia was leading compatriot Robert Van’t Hoff 5-2 in the first set when the match was stopped because of the rain.

That match is to continue Friday, followed by first-round matches between top-seed Stefan Edberg of Sweden and Italy’s Paolo Cane, Frenchman Henri Leconte and American Richey Reneberg, Frenchman Yannick Noah and American Dan Goldie, and Argentina’s Alberto Macini and Brad Pearce of the United States.

Chang, the No. 3 seed, took a 3-2 lead over qualifier Van’t Hoff, then broke his opponent to take a 5-2 lead. Chang was leading 15-0 in the eighth game when rain halted play.