Garrison Stuns Graf to Reach Final : Tennis: American rushes the net and storms past defending champion, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. She will face Navratilova on Saturday for the title.

Zina Garrison attacked on almost every shot today to overpower defending champion Steffi Graf and advance to an all-American final against Martina Navratilova.

Garrison, the women’s fifth seed, turned up the heat on a chilly, blustery Centre Court by rushing the net behind her hard serve to defeat the top-seeded Graf, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Navratilova, seeking a record ninth Wimbledon title, ousted fourth seed Gabriela Sabatini, 6-3, 6-4, and still has not lost a set in the tournament.

The second-seeded Navratilova holds a 27-1 record against Garrison and has won each of their previous seven encounters on grass, but she said she will not be overconfident in Saturday’s final.

“She has beaten me once, she has done it before and this is the surface on which she has the best chance to do it again,” Navratilova said. “She has beaten Steffi, so she can certainly beat me.”

Garrison guessed correctly where many of Graf’s shots would be going, resulting in easy slams at the net, to prevent the two-time defending champion from reaching a Grand Slam final for the first time since 1986.

“The strangest thing is I felt very relaxed,” said Garrison, who had not beaten Graf in more than five years. “I knew if I had a chance to ever beat Steffi, I felt of all places it would be on grass.”

And Garrison did not shy away from exchanging powerful ground strokes on Graf’s serve.

“I wasn’t afraid of her power. A lot of people are afraid of her power,” Garrison said. “You can slow her down now and make her take a step backwards. She’s not focusing on point after point.”

Graf, who had been in 13 consecutive Grand Slam finals, now has failed to win three consecutive tournaments--the first time that has happened in more than four years.

“I didn’t play well at all. I just didn’t feel confident,” Graf said. “She played much better than I did, that’s for sure. She played a very, very good match. Nothing worked for me.”

Garrison, rated an 80-1 longshot for the title by London bookies before the tournament began, scored three service breaks in the opening set and took advantage of several unforced errors by Graf.

The West German rebounded in the second set, holding her serve throughout and breaking the 26-year-old American’s serve twice.

But the athletic Garrison stepped up the pace of her attack in the final set and recorded the only service break in the third game. She closed out the two-hour battle with an ace.

Today’s loss was only the third time since Graf became No. 1 in the world, in August, 1987, that the West German failed to reach the final of a tournament. She has played in 42 events during that time.

Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Goran Ivanisevic turned up the power Wednesday to reach the men’s semifinals, serve-and- volleying their way past shell-shocked opponents.

The elimination of Brad Pearce, Brad Gilbert and Kevin Curren swept the only remaining American men out of the tournament on the Fourth of July.