TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Edberg, Seles Playing Through Injuries

Stefan Edberg’s new dictum--”No strain, no pain”--worked just as well for Monica Seles as the Australian Open’s top seeded players overcame 110-degree courtside heat to advance to the third round.

Edberg took some speed off his serve to save his sore arm and beat Claudio Mezzadri of Switzerland, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, Wednesday.

Seles, recovering from neck pain that limited her serving power, eschewed her recent experiments with a serve-and-volley game and relied on groundstrokes to dispatch Kimiko Date of Japan, 6-2, 7-5.

What Edberg held back in power he made up for with his fluid, quick movement at the net.

“Obviously, I can improve on my serve,” said Edberg, who strained his right forearm last week. “It’s coming each match. It’s getting better. I still have some way to go to play really good tennis, but I’m playing well enough to win matches. I still believe I have a chance to win it like anybody else.”

In an upset, Lars Wahlgren, a qualifier ranked No. 256, beat 12th-seeded Derrick Rostagno, 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

“He looked a little bit slow, so today was the right day for me to beat him,” said Wahlgren, who beat No. 20 Brad Gilbert in the first round. “It’s not often you get a chance to beat the very good guys.”

Patrick McEnroe, unseeded but playing well on the courts where he reached the semifinals a year ago, advanced with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over former Stanford teammate Jeff Tarango, who raged frequently about line calls.

“Why don’t you give me four points and call it even and start a new match,” Tarango shouted to the umpire in the first set.

Tarango also chastised himself for playing poorly, and even yelled at McEnroe when he took a couple of long rallies.

McEnroe shrugged off Tarango’s antics, closing the match with three aces and a service break.

“We were teammates for a couple of years,” McEnroe said, acknowledging it’s tougher on them to play each other. “We do a lot of things together. You do what you can to win.”

McEnroe, who practiced with his brother, John, on Tuesday, is brimming with enthusiasm for his game. “I feel I’ve really worked hard, and it’s going to pay off. I don’t know whether or not I’ll be in the semis here, but it’s exciting to see what’s going to happen,” Patrick McEnroe said. “I’m taking the steps in my game to improve, and I’m waiting to reap the rewards.”

Also in the men’s draw Tuesday, No. 4-seeded Michael Stich beat Javier Sanchez of Spain, 7-5, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, and No. 5 Ivan Lendl defeated Roger Rasheed of Australia, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.

The victory was a relief for Stich, who said he was worried about burnout after losing in the first round of a tune-up tournament last week.

“I got the fun back for the game,” said Stich, who still seemed to use work and more work as his way of relaxing.

Stich said the cure was “a matter of being into your rhythm,” practicing in the morning, going back to the hotel for rest, and practicing again in the afternoon.

“It’s a Grand Slam tournament, and I think the motivation and the expectations of myself are so much higher,” he said.