SPORTS : Seles Advances in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia — Monica Seles, the women’s second seed, lost her shutout string at 15 games but won handily over Italy’s Cathy Caverzasio, 6-1, 6-0, today to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.

Seles, the 17-year-old French Open champion, said she was distracted by the thought of what had happened in the skies over Baghdad.

“I’ve never lived through a war,” Seles said. “I’ve only seen World War II on television.”

Third-seeded American Mary Joe Fernandez, last year’s runner-up, also advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Francesca Roman of Italy.

The four top women’s seeds have lost just 15 games among them in the first two rounds, while the top three men--Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl--have yet to drop a set.

Fifth seed Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia survived a five-set match with Indian veteran Ramesh Krishnan, and Americans Aaron Krickstein and Jim Courier also safely reached the third round. (Earlier results, C9.)