For Garrison-Jackson, It’s Like Good Old Days

The last anyone saw of Zina Garrison-Jackson, she was dropping like a stone into the Thames. Her ranking hasn’t been in the top 10 for three years, she lost in the first round of the French Open and her racket looked as though it had no strings.

That was before she played her third-round Wimbledon match against Mary Joe Fernandez, the No. 6-ranked player in the world.

“I just said to myself, ‘Zina, this is your day,’ ” Garrison-Jackson said.

She was right. Garrison-Jackson played as though it was 1990 again, the year she made it to the Wimbledon final and the last time she was ranked in the top 10.

She routed Fernandez, her doubles partner and the French Open runner-up, 6-0, 6-1, in 57 minutes.

The other third-round matches were routine. Martina Navratilova made quick work of Patricia Hy, 6-1, 6-0, and Gabriela Sabatini needed three sets to subdue Natalia Medvedeva, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.

Nine-time champion Navratilova, who will play Nathalie Tauziat in the fourth round, said she isn’t sure if she is coming back next year.

“Frankly, it has not entered my mind that this could be my last one,” Navratilova said. “It could be, but I don’t know.

“I thought at the beginning of the year that chances were this was my last year. Right now, I really don’t know and I really don’t care.”