American skyscrapers vie at Armstrong Stadium

With the last of the U.S. Open's first-round matches Wednesday will come a couple of American tall tales: 6-9 John Isner of Tampa, Fla., seeded 18th, will play Frederico Gil of Portugal.

And 6-6 Sam Querrey of Santa Monica, Calif., Isner's doubles partner and the No. 20 seed, will play fellow Yank Bradley Klahn. Both matches are scheduled for Louis Armstrong Stadium, the tournament's No. 2 show court.

Isner, 25, is the man who won the longest match in tennis history - a three-day, 11-hour, 70-68 fifth set against France's Nicolas Mahut in June. His opponent Wednesday is ranked 87th in the world. Querrey, 22, won four tournaments on the pro tour earlier this year before finding less success on the summer hard-court circuit. Klahn, only 20, got into the Open's main draw via a wild card.

Order on the court

You might have noticed increased security personnel on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court this year, the result of an incident last year when a man ran onto the court to hug and kiss Rafael Nadal after his victory over Gael Monfils.

There are now nine yellow and red-shirted security personnel surrounding the court. Nadal said last year that he was not upset about the incident and even pleaded with the security people not to prosecute the man.

But that was the second incident at a major tournament last year. A man rushed onto the court at the French Open and attempted to put a hat on Roger Federer.

Security has also been doubled on the Armstrong and Grandstand courts.

"After the Rafa incident, it was decided we needed new positioning and number of security people on the court," director of communications Chris Widmaier said. "Certain players seem to prompt people to jump on the court."

Wickmayer in happy place

Yanina Wickmayer's best result in a major singles tournament was her semifinal finish at the U.S. Open last year, when she lost to Caroline Wozniacki. The 20-year-old Belgian came out of the tournament feeling pumped and confident about the good things to come.

Then, at the end of the season, Flemish anti-doping officials pulled a dark cloud over her career, accusing her of violating the whereabouts rule, of not telling where she was every day. They imposed a one-year suspension, which was overturned in December when she told an appeals court that the documents sent by the anti-doping agency had gone to her home in Belgium while she had been playing overseas for an extended time.

In her first tournament back at the start of the year, she won in Auckland, New Zealand. She is 35-16 this season and ranked No. 18. In her opening match Tuesday, She beat Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1, 6-2, in less an hour.

"I feel really good being here," Wickmayer said. "I'm very excited . . . It's nice having the support behind me."

And, has the doping cloud cleared?

A silent nod said everything.