US Open prime seed Carlos Alcaraz had an unexpectedly early evening inside Arthur Ashe Stadium Tuesday when opponent Dominik Koepfer retired with the Spaniard main 6-2, 3-2 after 60 minutes.
The German World No. 75 suffered a freak ankle damage simply six factors into the match when he rolled his left ankle whereas transferring backwards as an Alcaraz stroke sailed over the baseline.
The 29-year-old obtained remedy at deuce within the first sport and battled till halfway via the second set, when ultimately the ache and danger of additional damage grew to become an excessive amount of to bear.
“It’s obviously not the best way to get through to the next round,” mentioned Alcaraz, who debuted a creative sleeveless match shirt. “It’s very unfortunate for him but I was feeling really good on court. It’s a court I love playing in. I felt the same energy I felt last year.”
Alcaraz, who will subsequent meet South African Lloyd Harris, is making an attempt to develop into the primary participant to efficiently defend the boys’s US Open title since Roger Federer received 5 straight between 2004-08.
Because he’s dropping 2000 factors because the defending champion, no matter outcomes Alcaraz will give up World No. 1 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on 12 September to Novak Djokovic, who has no factors to defend as a result of he didn’t play the occasion final yr.
Alcaraz is seeded to fulfill Italian Jannik Sinner within the quarter-finals in what can be a rematch of their five-hour Flushing Meadows epic final yr, wherein the Italian held a match level.
Earlier on Tuesday evening Sinner dropped simply 5 video games in a commanding 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 win over German Yannick Hanfmann. Looking to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, Sinner received 50 per cent of return factors and claimed six service breaks.
“I was playing good, I was returning good,” Sinner mentioned. “Sometimes the serve could be a little bit better. But the atmosphere is obviously very nice. I know physically I’m healthy, which is most important.”
Sinner subsequent faces countryman Lorenzo Sonego, having crushed the World No. 39 of their two profession Lexus ATP Head2Head conferences this yr in Halle and Montpellier.
Source: www.atptour.com