Pippa power on court ... while Harry's strip party pal hits a different court

If Andy Murray has any sense of destiny, he would do well to invite Pippa Middleton to sit courtside when he takes on Tomas Berdych in Saturday's semifinal of the U.S. Open tennis championships.

Britian's Olympic gold medal winner -- but still without a Grand Slam title -- didn't appear to have fate was on his side in the quarters on Wednesday night.

But then along came Pippa, a little burst of sunshine in an $80 yellow dress from London's Phase Eight store.

What the younger sister of Kate Middleton walked into was a dire scene at Flushing Meadows. Her countryman was down one set already and playing badly. The match had already been cursed because rain forced it to move from the Arthur Ashe Stadium to the Louis Armstrong court, where Murray had did not have a good history.

There must be something about the Middletons, though. Pippa's sister, the Duchess of Cambridge, was at the All England Club when Murray captured Olympic gold a few weeks ago. An ocean and a month away, Pippa's presence certainly didn't hurt Britain's No. 1 player.

After falling behind 5-1 in the second set, Murray rallied and Cilic collapsed. The Brit came back to win the set 7-6, then breezed through the final two sets to keep his title quest alive.

Pippa magic? Probably not. But why mess with a good thing?

Pippa Middleton waves as she watches the U.S. Open men's singles action in New York. (Getty Images)

PRINCE HARRY NAKED PARTY GIRL ARRESTED

The 15 minutes of fame given Carrie Lynn Reichert appear to be up.

Reichert was one of the girls who claim to have partied with Prince Harry during his naked billiards game in Las Vegas several weeks ago. She was the first to tell the tale in an interview with The People gossip magazine in the UK.

It looks like she is also the first to get arrested post-party. The blonde beautician was nabbed on Aug. 24 on a felony warrant in San Diego as she tried to board a plane to Mexico.

She is wanted in Harrison County, Miss., charged with allegedly writing four bad cheques, dating back to 2003, worth a total of $21,672.

“How stupid can you be?" a law enforcement official told the New York Daily News. "You know you’ve got warrants on bad cheques you’ve written. After 9/11, you know we’re checking everyone on every flight."

While Reichert told The People she is 32 years old, her arrest record in the Santee, Calif., detention centre lists her as 40.

Obviously, 27-year-old Prince Harry doesn't deal in age discrimination. Buckingham Palace, however, claims she and Prince Harry didn't have the suite encounters she described in the article.

ROUGH SAILING FOR ROYAL BARGE

It was a grand sight ... the royal barge with the Royal Family sailing down the Thames, leading a flotilla of a thousand boats in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

So much of past glories.

Less than three months later, the Spirit of Chartwell has been sold for less than half what the owner paid for it and is off to Portugal to ferry tourists on the Douro River.

The barge, which underwent a $1.6-million renovation for the Jubilee pageant, has been at the centre of a battle between its owner, Philip Morrell, and the Port of London, according to the Telegraph.

"I am sad she has gone but we faced difficulties which made it unviable to use her on the River Thames," Morrell told the paper. "Without revealing figures the boat has been sold for half what I paid for her".

Morrell had planned to use the boat for luxury cruises sail along the Thames through central London, but said negotiations hit a snag over the boat's route under a bridge. Then the boat's berth was lost during the Olympics, Morrell said, pushing him over the edge and into the sale.

The craft began its journey to Portugal early this week. If there's every a Diamond Jubilee there, they'll know what boat to call.