Navratilova Sweeps Mary Joe Fernandez

It would have taken Martina Navratilova longer to list her health problems and injuries than it did for her to defeat Mary Joe Fernandez Tuesday.

Navratilova, seeded second, lost only 11 points on her serve during a 6-2, 6-3 victory before 11,185 fans in the $1-million Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden.

Not bad considering that Navratilova had to default last week in the quarterfinals of the Virginia Slims of Chicago because of a groin pull she suffered during a fall on ice two weeks ago--a “serious goalie split,” she called it.

Navratilova also had a bout with the flu that has still left her sniffling. And she says she continues to feel the effects of a nagging pulled stomach muscle.

“The combination of the three has been lethal,” she said before her first match in the year-end championships that she has won five of the last seven years.

But on the court, only Navratilova’s serve-and-volley game seemed lethal. She won 41 of 59 points when she came to net. She never seemed in danger of losing, and even held three break points to go up 5-2 and serve for the match in the second set before Fernandez made one last stand.

“I think this is one of the better matches she’s played,” said Fernandez of her six losses to Navratilova. “She was just really sharp at the net and she moved really well. She certainly didn’t look like she was feeling too bad.

“The biggest concern coming in was the groin and that didn’t hurt at all,” Navratilova said. “I’m still feeling the effects of the head cold, but even though my head is stuffed, I’m still seeing the ball clearly. If anything, I was overrunning the ball because I was so eager to get to the net.”

In other first-round matches, fifth-seeded Zina Garrison defeated Canada’s Helen Kelesi, 6-3, 6-1, and seventh-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia eliminated Raffaella Reggi of Italy, 6-3, 7-5.

In the Garrison-Kelesi match, speed was clearly the overriding factor; Garrison had it, Kelesi didn’t. Garrison is one of the fastest players on the tour, continually able to run down shots that are seemingly out of her reach.

Kelesi was often wrong-footed and continually found herself on the losing end of a well-placed drop shots. Even Kelesi’s powerful groundstrokes were neutralized when Garrison came to net and knocked off winning volleys.

“Her balls are really more bark than bite,” Garrison said. “It’s just because she takes the ball early that it looks so hard. I think she hits the same as most of the girls.”

Kelesi, who earned enough points to qualify for the championships by playing tournaments in five consecutive weeks, said she was tired.

“It was hard for me to concentrate and focus,” she said. “I’m just ready to go home and rest for the rest of the year.”