Alcaraz survives 'crazy' bee swarm to set up Indian Wells semifinal with Sinner

Third seed Coco Gauff served up 17 double faults but still managed to beat China's Yuan Yue

By Agencies

Published: Fri 15 Mar 2024, 8:12 PM

Carlos Alcaraz survived a swarm of bees that caused a nearly two-hour delay and went on to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Alexander Zverev to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Thursday night.

Alcaraz swatted at the bees buzzing around him before running for cover and the match was suspended 19 minutes in with Alcaraz serving tied at 1-1.

Dozens of bees attached themselves to the overhead spider camera that traverses the court and a man without any protective covering used a vacuum to clean them off. The bee vacuumer, Lance Davis, was summoned to the court with a spray bottle that he used to douse seats and the walls around the court.

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The match resumed after a delay of one hour, 48 minutes. The actual playing time was 1:29.

“For sure, the most unusual match I have ever played in my career. I’ve never experienced something like that; I’ve never seen something like that,” the 20-year-old said.

Coco Gauff. - Instagram

“I won the first point of the third game of the match, and I was ready to serve to the next point. I saw some bees around, but I thought it was just a few of them — just not too many.

“But I saw the sky and there was thousands, thousands flying, stuck in my hair, going to me. It was crazy,: he added. "I tried to stay away from them, but it was impossible. I’m a little bit afraid of them. I had to stay safe, and yeah, I was running everywhere.”

Jannik Sinner defeated Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 to extend his winning streak to 16 consecutive matches this year. He will play Alcaraz in the semis on Saturday.

Sinner’s run includes the Australian Open title he won in January. The Italian is 19-0 overall dating to last year’s Davis Cup. He’s won 21 of his last 22 sets.

“You earn these things by working hard and believing,” Sinner said in a Tennis Channel interview. “I’m just glad to be in this equation. It doesn’t matter if you’re 16-0 or whatever.”

Sinner made just four unforced errors in the first set when Lehecka had 17 miscues.

Sinner got the lone break in the second set in the fourth game with a backhand winner. Lehecka erased Sinner's first match point in the eighth game before Sinner converted his fourth match point in serving it out.

“I’ve improved many things which makes me more confident on the court,” Sinner said.

Tommy Paul rallied past ninth-seeded Casper Ruud 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to reach his second career Masters 1000 semifinal. The American won 25 points at the net, which was part of his game plan.

“It was to play aggressive, come out and play my game and make him uncomfortable especially on the pressure points,” Paul said. “I broke the (racket) string on match point and I was like, ‘Oh no,’ and kind of rushed the net and hoped for the best.”

Paul will play fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev in the other semifinal. Medvedev defeated Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek rallied from a 1-4 deficit in the first set and advanced when Caroline Wozniacki had to quit their quarterfinal.

Coco Gauff defeated Yuan Yue 6-4, 6-3 in 1 1/2 hours despite 17 double faults against seven aces.

Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine defeated Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 7-5 for the first time in three career meetings to reach the semifinals.

Maria Sakkari outlasted Emma Navarro, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 for the final slot in the semis.

Swiatek was leading 6-4 and had just broken Wozniacki to open the second set when the Dane retired because of a right foot issue. She had jammed a toenail on her foot earlier in the tournament and had a trainer retape it between sets.

Wozniacki, the 2011 tournament champion and former world No. 1, raced to a 4-1 lead in the first when Swiatek committed many of her 17 unforced errors.

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But Swiatek turned it on from there, winning the final five games to take the first set. She broke Wozniacki in a four-deuce game to close out the set in which Swiatek had 17 winners in front of actor Will Ferrell.

Swiatek moved on to the semifinals for the third straight year in the Southern California desert, having dropped just 14 games in her matches so far. Wozniacki was in the seventh tournament of her comeback since retiring 3 1/2 years ago, marrying and having two children.

All eight quarterfinals were being played on the same day for the first time at the combined ATP Tour and WTA Tour event.