NEW YORK -- Chris Evert, shedding a nostalgic tear, bid farewell to a brilliant tennis career Tuesday when she lost her quarterfinal match to Zina Garrison at the U.S. Open.
The final performance of her championship career was a sad one as she blew a 5-2 lead in the opening set to fall to her Federation Cup teammate 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.
'I'm not disappointed that this was my last match at the U.S. Open, but in isolating the match I'm disappointed in how I played it,' the 34-year-old Floridian said.
'I played a great match two days ago and today I was flat. That's the way it's been all year. That's why it's time to say goodbye.'
Evert is not cutting tennis from her life completely. She will play in the Federation Cup in Tokyo starting Oct. 2, compete in exhibitions with Martina Navratilova and play an occasional tournament. But she says her big championship career is over.
'Mentally, playing so many matches in my career has finally caught up to me,' Evert said.
Garrison termed herself a 'villain,' adding, 'It was good for me, but not a good moment for me. That was probably the hardest match of my life because it was such an emotional one.'
Twice in the opening set Evert double-faulted on break point, and she was unable to catch her younger and swifter rival.
'At least I'll be remembered,' said Garrison, who now has reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open for the second straight year. Last year her quarterfinal victim was Navratilova, and she could come across the second seed again in Thursday's semifinals if Navratilova beats Manuela Maleeva in a night match.
'The crowd was getting really loud,' Garrison said of the final minutes. 'My stomach started to feel sick. I remembered back to last year against Martina when I tightened up and I decided I was just going to go for the serve, and it worked.
'It felt really sad. Beating a champion who we'll never get to see here again. Chris is someone I've always admired. She was always such a lady on the court. When I sat down after the match there was a tear in my eye.'
Evert, who had announced she would retire from full-time tennis following the Open, thus was denied what would have been an 18th appearance in the semifinals. She won the national championship six times and three times was runnerup.
Evert bows out with a record 101 singles victories at the Open, the tournament where she first made her reputation by reaching the semifinals as a 16-year-old in 1971, against 13 defeats.
During her career, which includes 18 Grand Slam championships, Evert won 1,304 matches and lost 146.
Garrison, a loser of nine of 10 previous matches against Evert - all but one of them in straight sets -- jumped to a 2-0 lead as Evert committed two successive double-faults to close the second game.
But Evert, fresh from one of the more brilliant performances Sunday when she routed Monica Seles, came back to sweep the next five games. During that span Evert conceded merely five points and she seemed on her way to another semifinal date.
Garrison, at this point, changed her tactics, attacking the net more often. Once again she was assisted by Evert, who double-faulted on break point in the eighth game.
Garrison held at 15, then broke again at 15 to even the score at 5-5. The fifth seed from Houston held at love, serving the only two aces she would register all day on the final two points, and she broke Evert at love to force the tie-break.
At 1-1 in the tie-breaker, Evert double-faulted for the fifth time in the set and Garrison swept the final six points.
Evert squandered a break point in the second game of the second set, and the two women exchanged breaks for 2-2. Garrison then gained the decisive break in the fifth game on a forehand crosscourt on which she took a little off her motion and caught Evert flat-footed.
Evert had a last chance in the final game when she reached break point, but she was unable to capitalize as Garrison closed the 93-minute match when Evert netted a forehand service return.
'My career really began here at 16,' Evert said. 'I have excellent memories of Forest Hills (the previous site of the Open) and Flushing Meadow.'
John McEnroe and Mark Woodforde, the seventh seeds, upset top seeds Rick Leach and Jim Pugh 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to gain the semifinals of the men's doubles.
