U.S. Women Thrive Amid the Greenery : Wimbledon: Garrison-Jackson leads the way, upsetting second-seeded Sanchez Vicario.

The predominant color at Wimbledon is green. Green grass. Green walls. Green scoreboards. Green bleachers. Green everything.

It’s obvious: Someone got a great deal on green paint.

But after Monday’s results in the women’s singles, stodgy Wimbledon officials might have to add three more colors to their wheel chart.

Red.

White.

Blue.

No. 13-seeded Zina Garrison-Jackson recorded the upset of the day, defeating second-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. That leaves Wimbledon without its No. 1- and No. 2-seeded women for the first time since 1980.

Blame the city of Houston. Garrison-Jackson and Lori McNeil, who disposed of favorite Steffi Graf last week, learned the game years ago on the public courts of Houston’s MacGregor Park. Monday they glittered on the very exclusive courts of privileged Brits.

“There were a lot of upsets during the tournament,” Garrison-Jackson said. “I figured this could be one.”

Her victory was the biggest, but not the only American highlight of the day. Five U.S. women advanced to the quarterfinals, three U.S. men.

There was Garrison-Jackson’s victory over Sanchez Vicario, which took care of the player who many believed had the best chance of earning the championship.

There was unseeded McNeil, who beat unseeded Florencia Labat of Argentina, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). She plays Latvia’s Larisa Neiland in the next round.

There was unseeded Gigi Fernandez, who defeated Indonesia’s Yayuk Basuki, 6-4, 6-1. Fernandez, who faces Garrison-Jackson, also distinguished herself in the area of tennis cat fights. The claw marks are on Czech Jana Novotna.

There was No. 4 Martina Navratilova, who had an easy time with No. 17 Helena Sukova, 6-1, 6-2.

And there was Lindsay Davenport, the teen-ager from Murrieta Valley High who came here with a No. 9 seeding, low expectations and only a little preparation time on grass courts. Now she is two matches away from a Wimbledon final, the next being against third-seeded Conchita Martinez.

Not since 1985 have at least five American women advanced this far. Navratilova? Sure. Garrison-Jackson, a finalist in 1990? Understandable. But the rest of them?

McNeil reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals once before. In 1986.

Fernandez made it to the semifinals in 1991, but hadn’t advanced past the third round since. And Davenport? This is her second Grand Slam event quarterfinal.

“I was actually considering maybe not playing because of my high school graduation and after the French (Open) I was a little bit tired,” she said. “There was like a day--and I didn’t think about it very long--when I thought maybe it wouldn’t be the best idea to play here. Then everyone talked me into it.”

As for Novotna, she has been a regular quote machine.

She had this to say about Davenport in the London papers: “She is a very tall, very heavy (6 feet 2, 165 pounds) player, but to me it would be easy to play her. She’s much too big. I don’t understand why someone doesn’t tell her she should lose a few pounds.”

And this on Navratilova: “I think this year it’s too much for Martina. Everything is much slower. Her will is there, but her body just can’t do it anymore.”

Word filtered back to Fernandez, who knows Novotna well from their days as double partners. She also remembered Novotna’s collapse against Graf in last year’s Wimbledon final.

“Jana’s the biggest choker I’ve ever seen,” she was quoted as saying. “First you have to be aware of it, then deal with it, then get over it. It’s so simple, but she’s choked all her life. She’s done it in singles and doubles.”

* MEN: Sixth-seeded Todd Martin eliminated crowd favorite Andre Agassi, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (7-0), 4-6, 6-1. C8