INDIAN WELLS, California — A swarm of bees forced a nearly two-hour interruption to the quarterfinal match between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday.
Alcaraz squashed the bees buzzing around him before running for cover and the match was suspended after 19 minutes with Alcaraz serving tied 1-1.
Dozens of bees stuck to the spider chamber running across the pitch and a man without any protective covering used a vacuum cleaner to clean them off.
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The players left the court during the delay. When they returned, the chair umpire told them there were still some bees around and Zverev joked that he was fine to play on his side of the court.
The bee vacuum cleaner was called back to the court with a spray bottle and the crowd applauded him wildly. He posed for selfies with fans, causing Alcaraz and Zverev to laugh as they watched him wander around the seats spraying for bees. The man also sprayed the walls around the court.
A bee also landed on a player's towel. Alcaraz expressed constant concern that the bees would swarm next to him again, but an ATP Tour supervisor encouraged him to try it during the warm-up.
The match resumed after a delay of one hour and 48 minutes, and Alcaraz cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Zverev to reach the Indian Wells semi-finals.
Tournament owner and billionaire Larry Ellison and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates were watching the game from Ellison's box.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
