{"id":25570,"date":"2023-08-30T10:52:52","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T10:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/?p=25570"},"modified":"2023-08-30T10:52:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T10:52:52","slug":"alcaraz-progresses-as-koepfer-retires-with-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/news\/alcaraz-progresses-as-koepfer-retires-with-injury","title":{"rendered":"Alcaraz progresses as Koepfer retires with injury"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Defending champion goes through after Koepfer rolls ankle<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alcaraz hoping for title defence<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Spaniard faces Harris in second round<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed at the US Open, had an unexpectedly quick evening at Arthur Ashe Stadium. His opponent, Dominik Koepfer, retired just 60 minutes into their match, with Alcaraz in the lead at 6-2, 3-2. Koepfer\u2019s match was abruptly hindered after he rolled his ankle early on. Despite attempting to continue post-treatment, the pain proved overwhelming, forcing his withdrawal. Alcaraz will now face Lloyd Harris in the second round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Spaniard\">Spaniard looks to retain title<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not the ideal way to progress, but I felt great on the court,\u201d commented Alcaraz, donning a striking sleeveless match shirt. Recalling his previous performances, he added, \u201cThis court resonates with me. The energy is just as vibrant as last year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcaraz\u2019s aspirations are set high as he seeks to replicate Roger Federer\u2019s success by defending the men\u2019s US Open title. Federer secured five consecutive titles from 2004-08. However, a rankings shuffle is on the horizon. Despite his ongoing efforts, Alcaraz is poised to drop from the World No.1 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings come 12 September. He will be succeeded by Novak Djokovic, who\u2019s on the advantage with no points at stake from last year\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Betting\">Betting Implications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It was an easy start for the top seed, and although he was quick to state that nobody wants to win in this way, the Spanish youngster will benefit from the extra rest. It will not, however,&nbsp; be an easy road if Alcaraz wants to be the first person to win consecutive U.S. Open titles since Roger Federer won five straight (2004-2008). His half of the draw includes both Jannik Skinner and Daniil Medvedev and, of course,&nbsp; the man he beat at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic could lie in wait in the final. Currently, Djokovic is the bookies\u2019 favourite to win the tournament, but Alcaraz is certainly a player worth placing a wager on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed at the US Open, had an unexpectedly quick evening at Arthur Ashe Stadium. His opponent, Dominik Koepfer, retired just 60 minutes into their match, with Alcaraz in the lead at 6-2, 3-2. Koepfer\u2019s match was abruptly hindered after he rolled his ankle early on. Despite attempting to continue post-treatment, the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":25571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[590],"tags":[645],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25570"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25573,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25570\/revisions\/25573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}