WIMBLEDON : Garrison Halts Seles’ Streak at 36

Monica Seles’ assault on the top spot in women’s tennis was stopped by Zina Garrison today after 36 straight victories and one step shy of a dream match in the Wimbledon semifinals with Steffi Graf.

Garrison, the fifth seed but overlooked when it came to contending for Graf’s crown, saved one match point and ended the 16-year-old Yugoslav’s winning streak with a 3-6, 6-3, 9-7 victory.

Garrison will face Graf in the semifinals Thursday.

West Germany’s Graf, ranked No. 1 in the world, withstood a lesser challenge from 13th-seeded Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia and advanced, 7-5, 6-2, to sustain her bid for a third consecutive Wimbledon title.

“I actually lost about four matches this year that I should have won, and that helped me today,” Garrison said. “I decided just to hang tough, play my game, and hope the chances came my way.” It was Garrison’s fourth berth in a Grand Slam semifinal and her second at Wimbledon. She also reached the semifinals in 1985.

“This match was so close, it was difficult to be out there for three hours and just to lose it on a few points,” Seles said. “She had more luck out there today.”

Martina Navratilova, seeking a record ninth Wimbledon singles title, became the century-old tournament’s winningest player with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Katerina Maleeva. It was Navratilova’s 97th singles victory, one more than Chris Evert compiled.

“If you play long enough and play well enough, you break some records,” Navratilova said.

The men’s quarterfinal field was completed, with the top seed and a surprising American going through.

Ivan Lendl, the world’s top player, came back from an early lapse to beat Alex Antonitsch of Austria, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Unseeded Brad Pearce, from Provo, Utah, will meet Lendl in the semifinals. He beat Mark Woodforde of Australia, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Garrison, a 26-year-old from Houston, has had a good year, despite a first-round loss at the French Open. She won a grass-court warm-up tournament in Birmingham, England, last month and then declared: “Maybe I can win Wimbledon.”

Not many took her seriously, even fewer when the Wimbledon draw put her in the same bracket as Graf, Seles and Jennifer Capriati.

But Graf beat Capriati on Monday and, 24 hours later, Garrison beat Seles.

Seles had a match point on Garrison’s serve, at 30-40 in the 14th game of the final set, just after the American slipped and hurt her right thigh while chasing a backhand into her forehand corner. She got up slowly and in some pain but waved off an umpire’s offer of an injury timeout.

“I didn’t want to give her momentum,” Garrison said.

Garrison saved that match point with a forehand drive, then won 10 of the next 11 points, breaking Seles at 15 on a netted forehand for an 8-7 lead and closing the match at love on a backhand into the net, a backhand dropshot, a service winner and a backhand long off a big Garrison forehand.

“I was pretty surprised,” Seles said of the final shot. “I kind of don’t remember it. I don’t remember exactly where it went.”