Harrison upsets Ljubicic in first round

If there were any doubts about the future of American men's tennis, 18-year-old Ryan Harrison silenced the critics Wednesday with a solid 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4 upset of 31-year-old veteran Ivan Ljubicic, the No. 15 seed.

Currently ranked No. 220 in the world, Harrison earned his spot in the US Open main draw the hard way, playing his way past Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy, Rui Machado and Ricardo Hocevar to enter as a qualifier.

The young American opened play with an impressive performance, dictating points from the baseline and hitting highly accurate passing shots against the Croatian. An early break at love in the sixth game was all Harrison needed to take a 4-2 edge and eventually take the first set.

Each player held his own through the entire second set, which was decided with a tiebreaker. Ljubicic began to look a bit sluggish and tired, taking a little extra time after long rallies in the breaker. However, a string of unforced errors from Harrison, as well as a brief loss of temper, costed him the set and allowed Ljubicic to level the match.

Much like the first set, Harrison again broke Ljubicic in the sixth game when the Croatian began to misfire on his shots. Harrison held at love at 5-2 to close out the set and take the lead in the match.

Ljubicic, who defeated Harrison en route to the Indian Wells title this summer, continued to try his luck playing out points from the net, but Harrison consistently passed him, giving him a break for a 3-2 advantage.

The veteran managed to give Harrison, and the largely pro-American crowd, a scare late in the set when he broke back to even it at 4-4, but Harrison immediately took the next break and served out the match easily after three hours and seven minutes.

Harrison's journey through the draw looks fairly promising for the upcoming rounds. He will face Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round, and he could potentially meet Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals if he can continue his run.