TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Lendl, Graf Overcome Mistakes to Win

Defending champions Ivan Lendl and Steffi Graf overcame unusually sloppy play Sunday, while American amateur sensation Angelica Gavaldon kept rolling to reach the quarterfinals.

Lendl hit 46 errors yet never was threatened in beating Australian Simon Youl, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

Lendl will face Andrei Cherkasov in the next round after the unseeded Soviet teen-ager upset ninth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5).

“I played Ivan once before at Hamburg last year and lost 6-4, 6-4,” Cherkasov said. “We played for two hours, and at one point, I was up 3-1, 40-love. Then I lost my concentration, Lendl took control and it was over.”

It was Lendl having lapses of concentration during his victory over Youl, but he was still in control the entire match.

Graf started with an ace and ended with another one to notch her 45th consecutive victory, 6-2, 6-3, over 13th-seeded Raffaella Reggi.

Graf was in control of her match throughout, but was annoyed by an unusually high 28 unforced errors.

“I have a lot left to improve,” she said. “I need to find my right timing and I’m making too many errors.”

Graf’s winning streak is one shy of her 46-match streak in 1988, which included titles in the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. She also won the Australian that year to start her Grand Slam. Martina Navratilova holds the women’s winning streak record of 74.

Graf will face Patty Fendick in the quarters and the young American is looking forward to the challenge.

The American already has beaten two seeds on her way to the final eight and isn’t about to let the defending champion scare her.

“It’s a challenge,” Fendick said. “I’m not the sort of player to roll over and die.”

Fendick, 25, will be playing in the quarters of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her eight-year pro career.

The four-time All-American, a Stanford psychology graduate, is on the comeback trail after missing four months of last year with a shoulder injury.

She followed a third-round victory over fifth-seeded Czech Jana Novotna with a 7-5, 6-2 triumph over 16th-seeded Austrian Barbara Paulus, rallying from 2-5 down in the first set Sunday.

Fendick has a new attitude.

“Last year, when I got a break down, I started to panic,” she said. “Now, I don’t get too concerned. I just try to play harder.

Graf holds a 3-0 record over Fendick, but the American believes her all-court game can trouble the West German.

Gavaldon, an effervescent 16-year-old from Coronado, who entered as a qualifier ranked 192, upset 15th-seeded Gigi Fernandez 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

Gavaldon, taking high school correspondence courses, is playing her first professional tournament outside the United States and is the youngest player left in the field.

Gavaldon, who beat former two-time champion Hana Mandlikova in the third round, next meets West German Claudia Porwik, who beat South African Dinky van Rensburg 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.

Helena Sukova, who lost the 1989 finals against Graf, ended the surprising surge of Japan’s Kimiko Date, 6-4, 6-3.