Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz overcomes bees and Alexander Zverev to advance to Indian Wells semis
Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz withdraws from ATP Italian Open with arm injury
Carlos Alcaraz looked back at his best as he swatted aside a swarm of bees and world number six Alexander Zverev to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells on Thursday (March 14), setting up a clash with the in-form Jannik Sinner.
The world number two took the interruption to clear the bees from the court in his stride before racing past Zverev 6-3 6-1 in little more than 90 minutes to keep his title defense on track.
Zverev did not play badly but Alcaraz's all-court game was just too good, the 20-year-old Spaniard sealing the victory by breaking the German for the fourth time and taking his winning streak in the Californian desert to 10 matches.
"It was strange, I've never seen something like that at a tennis match," twice major champion Alcaraz said of the invasion of the bees.
"I'm not going to lie, I'm a little bit afraid of the bees. Once the match started again, I managed to stay away from the bees and do the things I needed to do."
Italian Sinner earlier continued his perfect start to the season by cruising past Jiri Lehecka 6-3 6-3 to improve his win-loss record this year to 16-0.
A windy, cool day did little to slow down the hottest player on the men's tour as Sinner was in control throughout, facing a single break chance the entire contest while his opponent piled up unforced errors.
Local hope Tommy Paul also reached the semi-finals with a 6-2 1-6 6-3 win over Casper Ruud. He will play the winner of the remaining quarter-final between Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune.
