NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz, the 18-year-old Spaniard who set the U.S. Open aflame last Friday with an upset win over No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, abruptly retired from his quarterfinal match Tuesday night against No. 12 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime while trailing 6-2, 3-1.
Auger-Aliassime, the much-hyped 21-year-old Canadian who has steadily progressed up the rankings over the past two years, advances to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal where he’ll face No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev.
It was not immediately apparent why Alcaraz could not continue in the match, though he did have tape on his left thigh area.
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Auger-Aliassime had controlled the match to that point with his serve and forehand, acing Alcaraz seven times and hitting 14 winners. Alcaraz had spent a significant amount of time on the court just to get to the round of 16, needing 3 hours, 31 minutes in a five-set win over Peter Gojowczyk and 4 hours, 7 minutes to outlast Tsitsipas.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US Open: Carlos Alcaraz abruptly retires against Felix Auger-Aliassime