Carlos Alcaraz reaches second round of US Open tennis tournament after opponent injured

NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz moved into the second round of the US Open on Tuesday when his opponent was forced to stop because of injury in the third set.

Alcaraz, the No. 3 seed, led Sebastian Baez 7-5, 7-5, 2-0 when the Argentine player motioned that he couldn't continue because of leg pain or cramps.

Alcaraz's US Open ended last year in a similar manner. He reached the quarterfinals at 18, the youngest man to get that far in New York in the professional era, before stopping in the second set of his loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime because of an upper right leg injury.

Russian Andrey Rublev, the No. 9 seed who has twice reached the quarterfinals at the US Open, reached the second round by outlasting Laslo Djere 7-6 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4 in a match that took 3 hours, 41 minutes.

Cam Norrie (7), Marin Cilic (15), Grigor Dimitrov (17), Daniel Evans (20) and Holger Rune (28) were among those seeded players who won in straight sets Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.