Invasion of bees unable to take the sting out of Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells

A beekeeper sprays a bee during an interruption in play at Indian Wells (Mark J Terrill/AP)

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will face off in the Indian Wells semi-finals after dominant wins and an unlikely delay.

Alcaraz, the number two ranked player in the world, beat sixth-seeded German Alexander Zverev in straight sets 6-3 6-1 despite a swarm of bees on the court.

The bees caused a two-hour delay with Alcaraz seen swatting them away before running for cover just 19 minutes into the match.

A beekeeper sprays a bee during an interruption (Mark J Terrill/AP)

The announcer said play was to be suspended due to a “bee invasion”, but after the delay Alcaraz wrapped up the match in just under 90 minutes.

On court after the match, the Spaniard said: “It was strange, I’ve never seen something like that on a tennis court.

“When we ran out of the court, we were watching the bee invasion on the TV and we laughed a lot about it. It was funny for me. It’s going to be remembered for that, not for the tennis.”

Earlier in the day, Australian Open winner Sinner continued his sizzling start to the year taking down Jiri Lehecka and extending his 2024 win streak to 16.

It took the third-seeded Italian one hour and 24 minutes to win 6-3 6-3 but the 22-year-old already has his sights set on Alcaraz.

“Yeah, Carlos, it’s always fun to play with him. We are good friends off the court. On the court, we just try to give 100 per cent, no,” Sinner said.

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“I think we have a good attitude on court. Usually the matches are good. Last year against him, especially here on this court, I struggled a lot. He played much better than me, which then two weeks after I played Miami against him where I won, so, you know, let’s see.”

Daniil Medvedev advanced to the other semi-final after defeating Holger Rune 7-5 6-4, where he will play Tommy Paul following the American’s 6-2 1-6 6-3 victory over Casper Ruud.