TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Playing at Their Best, Edberg Is Better Than Cash

Stefan Edberg and Pat Cash put on a blazing show of tennis to close a week of memorable matches at the Australian Open.

Top-seeded Edberg squirmed out of every tough situation by taking the big points in a nearly three-hour third-round match, winning, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, 6-2, with nine minutes left on his 25th birthday Saturday night.

Cash played with the quickness and acrobatic skill he displayed when he won Wimbledon in 1987.

On the hard courts of the National Tennis Center, the match was a fitting finish to a day that featured victories by a parade of Australian Open champions--Edberg, the 1985 and 1987 winner; Ivan Lendl, the 1989 and 1990 winner; and Mats Wilander the 1983, 1984 and 1988 winner.

Lendl, seeded No. 3 this year, reached the round of 16 by beating another Swede, Magnus Gustafsson, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Wilander, who has dropped to No. 47 in the rankings, beat seventh-seeded Brad Gilbert, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 6-4. Lendl next plays Aaron Krickstein, who beat Patrick Kuhnen, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.

In other matches, Patrick McEnroe, ranked 114th, picked up where his volatile brother John was forced to leave off last year, quietly and surprisingly reaching the quarterfinals in only his second Grand Slam event by beating popular Australian Mark Woodforde, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, in the same fourth round that last year saw John become the first player ejected for misconduct.

Steffi Graf needed only 37 minutes to defeat Karina Habsudova, 6-0, 6-1, and reach the quarterfinals.

Sixth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario also had an easy time, beating No. 13 Amy Frazier, 6-3, 6-2.

Zina Garrison, the No. 8 seeded player, lost, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, to No. 10 Jana Novotna.