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In incredible scenes, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz’s quarter-final clash with Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was halted abruptly due to a “bee invasion.”
Less than three games into the match on Friday, play was postponed after a swarm of bees invaded the tennis court as Alcaraz attempted to serve.
World number two Alcaraz was stung and forced to duck for cover. He tried desperately to swat them away with his racquet before running away to seek shelter in the locker room.
It’s believed the swarm of bees were attracted to the aerial cameras.
The flying insects led authorities to postpone the match between the former world number one and his German rival.
Swedish umpire Mohamed Lahyani announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, play is suspended due to bee invasion.”
A professional beekeeper was quickly called and used an industrial vacuum to remove the bees.
Tennis legend Boris Becker took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his shock. “I have never seen anything like it in my 39 years of tennis… unbelievable!!!”
Play finally resumed almost two hours later with the Spaniard winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
He will now face the number three seed and in-form Jannik Sinner in the semi-final, after he defeated Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 to take his win-loss record this year to 16-0.
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