Australian Open Tennis : Navratilova, Mandlikova, Shriver All Advance

MELBOURNE, Australia —  Defending champion Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlikova and Pam Shriver, the top three seeded players, advanced to the fourth round of the $1.65-million Australian Open tennis championships Friday.

Navratilova, the world’s No. 1 player, who is seeking her fourth Australian Open title, needed only 55 minutes to score a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Camille Benjamin of Bakersfield, Calif., despite a battering wind that overturned chairs and ripped flags.

Mandlikova, of Czechoslovakia, who won this tournament in 1980, took just 65 minutes to beat Anne Smith, 6-3, 6-2. Shriver defeated South African Elna Reinach, 6-2, 6-4.

“I felt I was very concentrated and tried to play every ball as soon as possible,” said Mandlikova, who added that the wind had made serving difficult.

Dianne Balestrat of Australia became the first seeded woman to be eliminated when she lost to Britain’s Anne Hobbs. Hobbs trounced Balestrat, seeded 15th, 6-4, 6-2, with her better ball control in the wind.

Navratilova, 30, said she was peaking physically and feels as good mentally as any time in her career as she aims for the first leg of the Grand Slam, which also includes the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

No. 6 Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria had the most difficult time among the seeded players, struggling to defeat Hungarian-born Swiss player Csilla Cserepy, 6-3, 6-7, 7-5. Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, seeded 10th, recovered from a slow start to defeat Marie-Christine Calleja of France, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Jo Durie, the 14th-seeded player from Britain, set up a meeting with Shriver by beating Judith Polzl of Austria, 6-1, 6-4.

Unseeded veteran Sylvia Hanika of West Germany ousted Akiko Kijimuta of Japan, 6-3, 6-3.

There were no men’s singles matches played Friday.