“It’s really difficult to find some goodstuffs from this match — I want to forget it and try to move on to New York,” he said.

“I’ll try to practice well, to get used to those courts. And I will forget this match.”

Monfils then started a third-round catch-up match only hours after his victory, but ran out of puff as Holger Rune scraped out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory.

While frustrated second seed Alcaraz was fuming at his form and occasionally screaming at his team, world number one Jannik Sinner celebrated a quiet 23rd birthday, with fate handing him a present in the form of a walkover.

The Italian advanced effortlessly into the quarters when Australian opponent Jordan Thompson withdrew before their match with a rib injury.

Sinner next gets a rematch of last week’s quarter-final in Canada, which he lost to Andrey Rublev. The Russian finished a rain-delayed match over Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Third seed Alexander Zverev advanced into the last eight over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 7-6 (8/6).

Number five Hubert Hurkacz continued his quick return from July knee surgery with a 6-3,3-6, 6-1 defeat of Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.

The poor run of form for seventh seed Casper Ruud continued as the Norwegian went down 6-3, 6-1 to Felix Auger-Aliassime in 68 minutes, with the Canadian sending down 14 aces.