TENNIS / AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Sabatini Struggles to Victory

She blew a huge lead at the French Open and failed to wrap up a Wimbledon final. This time, Gabriela Sabatini promised herself, she was not going to have another Grand Slam collapse.

Sabatini, who led 5-1 in the final set before losing four straight games, wasted five match points before struggling to a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Natalia Medvedeva in the second round of the Australian Open Thursday.

“I had some difficult moments,” the fourth-seeded Argentine said. “It felt like I couldn’t finish the match. For a moment at 5-all, I was thinking I could lose this match. I had match point and I couldn’t win, and finally I did it. I felt like I broke that wall.”

Sabatini has struggled in the past to finish off matches in Grand Slam events. She twice served for the match against Steffi Graf in the 1991 Wimbledon final, but failed both times and lost, 6-4, 3-6, 8-6.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, seeded second, needed eight match points to down Taiwan’s Shi-ting Wang, 6-2, 6-4 ,in another second-round match.

No. 5 Jana Novotna, No. 8 Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere and No. 9 Mary Pierce also reached the third round.

Fourth-seeded Stefan Edberg won, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, against Jan Siemerink, and No. 9 Todd Martin dropped only seven games in a straight-set win over Jonas Bjorkman.

Also advancing were No. 6 Thomas Muster, No. 12 Alexander Volkov and No. 14 Karel Novacek. Arnaud Boetsch, seeded 16th, withdrew with sinusitis.

Two players attempting comebacks had mixed results. Mats Wilander, a three-time Australian Open champion, won 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 over Frenchman Olivier Delaitre. Tracy Austin, playing in the Australian Open for the first time in 13 years, lost, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, to Sabine Hack of Germany.