Carlos Alcaraz survives invasion of bees after being stung during Indian Wells victory

Play was held up for two hours before the Spaniard defeated Alexander Zverev to set up a blockbuster encounter against Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals

Carlos Alcaraz survived an invasion of bees to advance to the Indian Wells semi-finals with victory over Alexander Zverev.

The Spaniard was stung on the forehead with his match suspended before completing a straight sets 6-3 6-1 win over the German, with Jannik Sinner up next for the Spaniard in the semi-finals.

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

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.

Beekeeper Lance Davis removes bees from a Spider Cam (Getty Images)

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.

(Getty Images)

“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.

PA contributed to this report