Garrison Taking Shot to Test Mettle

CARLSBAD — The Olympic experience was hardly as pleasant for Zina Garrison as it was for Jennifer Capriati.

Capriati waltzed home touting a gold medal. Garrison’s was scrap metal. She lost in the round of 64, her first match.

“I was disappointed, but I wasn’t devastated,” said Garrison, who left town before the medal round.

She’ll be sticking around a bit longer for the Mazda Tennis Classic at the La Costa Resort & Spa. In Monday night’s feature match, seventh-seeded Garrison steamed to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over home-town favorite Ros Fairbank-Nideffer of Escondido.

The match was delayed 40 minutes when the lights blinked out and center court went dark as the players warmed up. Fairbank-Nideffer mingled, Houston’s Garrison used the time to stretch and jump rope.

“I always carry a jump rope with me, it helped,” she said.

Then she jumped all over Fairbank-Nideffer.

Garrison played the first set like she had plans for later in the night. In 20 minutes she rushed to a 5-0 lead by rushing the net and staying long enough to hit winner after winner from there.

“I think I totally threw her off,” said Garrison. “Today I came in way more than I usually do.”

And in head-to-head matches, Garrison usually wins. The Texan had a 6-1 record against her first-round opponent going into Monday’s match. Fairbank-Nideffer hasn’t defeated Garrison since the French Open in 1985.

“We know each other’s game so well,” Garrison said. “It seems like that last two years, we play in every tournament.”

This time out, Garrison played with fire in her eyes, but she also capitalized on her opponent’s backhand, which Fairbank-Nideffer hit short repeatedly.

“It just happened that it was weaker tonight,” Garrison said. “She didn’t really have a rhythym on it, so I just stayed on it.”

Fairbank-Nideffer did manage to stay in it for a while. Down 5-0 in the first set, she won the next three games before Garrison held serve and closed out the first set.

“I missed that forehand volley, I could have closed it out there,” Garrison said, “but the main thing is I stuck in there. I played point by point, and that’s what is game is all about.”

Garrison took a 2-1 lead in the second set before Fairbank-Nideffer broke to make it 2-2. Garrison broke back, then won the next three games easily.

Garrison said it was as aggressive as she’s been in more than a year ago.

“I’ve been working on (being aggressive),” she said. I figured, ‘Hey, I’m No. 14 in the world. Go for it, play tennis.’ ”

It was the third consecutive year the Escondido resident has been ousted from this tournament in the opening round. Last year, she lost to Garrison, 6-3, 6-4 and in 1990 she was upset by Coronado’s Angelica Gavaldon.

Gavaldon, the two-time San Diego Section tennis champ was ranked among the top 50 in the world in 1990, then took some time off and is now ranked 178th. She fell short in her opening match, losing to France’s Nathalie Tauziat, 6-1, 6-3.

In tonight’s featured match, Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini plays her first match since Wimbledon. She plays Rolling Hills Kimberly Po, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over San Diego’s Gretchen Mager on Monday.

Tennis Notes

Oceanside’s Stephanie Rehe admitted her serve wasn’t the highlight of the 3-hour, 31-minute match she eventually won against Argentina’s Mercedes Paz. “I definitely struggled with it,” understated Rehe, who double faulted 29 times en route to the 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory. “It’s more like two first serves. I’m trying to improve my consistency.” Rehe won here in 1988 then missed most of 1989 because of a back injury. She moved here from Highland, Calif., with her family two years ago . . . The flip side to that marathon match: Debbie Graham of Fountain Valley, Calif., dropped three games in a 55 minute match against Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia. Not all the San Diego contingent was as fortunate as Rehe. Ohio’s Ann Grossman, who lost to Rehe in that 1988 final, dispatched Robin White of Del Mar, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 and Kimberly Po of Rolling Hills turned back San Diego’s Gretchen Magers, 6-3, 6-4.