Top seed Carlos Alcaraz had an unexpectedly early night inside Arthur Ashe Stadium Tuesday night when opponent Dominic Koepfer retired with the Spaniard leading 6-2, 3-2 after 60 minutes.
The German World No. 75 suffered a freak ankle injury just six points into the match when he rolled his left ankle while moving backwards as an Alcaraz stroke sailed over the baseline.
The 29-year-old received treatment at deuce in the first game and battled until midway through the second set, when eventually the pain and risk of further injury became too much to bear.
Alcaraz, who will next meet South African Lloyd Harris, is attempting to become the first player to successfully defend the men’s US Open title since Roger Federer won five straight between 2004-08.
Because he is dropping 2000 points as the defending champion, regardless of results Alcaraz will surrender World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on 12 September to Novak Djokovic, who has no points to defend because he did not play the event last year.
Alcaraz is seeded to meet Italian Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals in what would be a rematch of their five-hour Flushing Meadows epic last year, in which the Italian held a match point.
Earlier on Tuesday night Sinner dropped just five games in a commanding 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 win over German Yannik Hanfmann. Looking to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, Sinner won 50 per cent of return points and claimed six service breaks.
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