Well, not long after I posted it, all of those players have been eliminated. American upstart Ryan Harrison, after having three match points in his 5-set match, blew them all and lost on Friday; Jankovic blamed the wind for her shocking loss on Saturday; Murray fell in the third round, his worst performance at the Open in three years and began doubting himself with whether he'd ever win here; Dent was blown away in straight sets on Thursday afternoon, only hours after I posted the story. Another player who stayed--though only briefly--was Svetlana Kuznetsova, and she lost today in another upset.

Could it be: Is the Radisson cursed?

The only surviving Radisson player is Vera Zvonareva who plays tonight at Ashe. It must be getting awfully lonely in the hotel, and now she has to shoulder the load and keep honor to the Radisson. Maybe she should do a seance, and, hopefully, the bad luck won't rub off on her.

EARLIER:Forget the Waldorf! Rally Round the Radisson! New York Home for Tennis Stars

But for a couple hours on Friday afternoon, he absolutely owned the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The USTA wisely decided to put him on the Grandstand, a tiny, loud and an intimate court that shares real estate with Louis Armstrong Stadium. It's not so big and intimidating to scare Harrison right off the court, but it's loud enough to give a player an experience he's never had before.

The match-up, on paper, was a great one: On the one end there's Harrison, with his southern accent, an 18-year-old American; on the other, you had Sergiy Stakhovsky, a gangly Eastern European who no one ever heard of yet (amazingly) held his own for more than four hours.

The fifth set, which Stakhovsky eventually won in a tiebreak, was riveting stuff. That stuff you always seem to get at the U.S. Open, but we haven't seen enough in the first five days. It was complete with breathless back-and-forth rallies, athletic shots and did-you-just-see-that winners. Harrison plays an inventive game that's full of variety. The crowd loved it. There were lots of Ryan! Ryan! Ryan! (to the tune of Rudy) chants and Let's Go Ryan (to the tune of Let's Go Rangers, clap-clap-clapclapclap).

Harrison was everywhere: twisting and turning, running to the net and then backpedaling to the baseline to catch up to a lob.  He was up three match points in that last tiebreak, and it seemed inevitable that he would wind up in the third round. He lost the next five points (and the match) in what felt like 45 seconds of dizzy play. It was a shame.

The only problem is Harrison's game--lots of variety filled with slices, volleys, net play--is that he made far too many errors (73 unforced errors for the match) to fit that style of play. For variety to work out, you've got to play as clean as possible. His play at the net was, occasionally, erratic. He doesn't quite seem like a Melanie Oudin (a fun player to watch, but limited by her body and her skills), but he does have some work to do.

"It was incredibly fun," he said.

He described himself as a "tennis fan, a tennis freak" and the experience of playing his home Slam was "incredible."

His goal?

"My ranking is 220 in the world right now, and I'm trying to hopefully get to the top 10," he said.

We're looking forward to seeing him next year.

We'll have a full report on Harrison, the match and the crowd later this afternoon.

But if you're near a TV now, put on ESPN2 and catch the end of the fifth set.

UPDATE: Harrison blows three match points, and ultimately loses the match in a fifth set tiebreak to Sergiy Stakhovsky. It was a fantastic match to watch, and we have a feeling Harrison is here to stay.

And later this afternoon, the lady we're predicting will be this year's spoiler at the Open, Ana Ivanovic, will be playing the Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano on Armstrong.

But where do stars like Andy Murray and Jelena Jankovic stay?

How about the Radisson!

That's right. For starters, who even knew that the Raddison--that inexpensive hotel where you stay when you make those unfortunate trips to cities like Cincinnati or Jacksonville--was in Manhattan? But it is!

And who else--other than Murray and Jankovic--is staying at the Radisson on the corner of 48th and Lexington?

How about Ryan Harrison (Wednesday's star at the Open), Taylor Dent and Vera Zvonareva? Also: Nick Bollatterri.

According to a guest at the hotel (where all this information comes from), Mr. Bollatterri is a close friend with the folks who run the hotel chain, so anyone who has made a tour through his Academy has a pretty good shot of winding up bunking there.

Apparently the hotel gets pretty decked out for the Open as well. There's tennis everything, a tennis-loving bartender and also a sushi bar (which Open players love, love, love).

Why else stay there? Ah, maybe this has something to do with it, too: Our source tells us the rates are really good.

So if you somehow wind up at the intersection of Lexington and 48th, be sure to give a yell for Taylor Dent who takes on Robin Soderling later today. Or anyone, really. And if Andy Murray winds up winning the Open, we'll be looking closely for the after-party in the Radisson lobby.

That magic carpet ride of '10 came to an early end today with a straight sets loss to Alona Bondarenko.

In other matches today: Venus Williams struggled early on, but won in straight sets over a tough-as-nails Canadian Rebecca Marino. Andy Murray won today--a guy that Out's Aaron Hicklin told us today that he is rooting for--in three easy sets, despite the heat! He said the wind made it a bit easier out there. "Honestly, I don't find it that bad on center today," he said. "It was hot, but the wind--it does get a lot breezier on that court than the outside courts."

The big story tomorrow will no doubt be about 18-year-old Ryan Harrison who defeated Ivan Ljubicic. It's his first Open and he handled it well.

Also, the lineup got a bit easier for Ana Ivanovic. Marion Bartoli lost today to another Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano who'll be Ivanovic's next opponent.