The quarter-final match between Alexander Zverev and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells had to be temporarily suspended on Thursday after a swarm of bees descended on the court.
Play was suspended at 1-1, 15/0 in the first set, just nine minutes into the clash, when thousands of bees swarmed Stadium 1. Alcaraz, who was serving, started to lash out and then fled to the dressing room.
The official X account of the tournament showed pictures of numerous bees gathering on a television camera.
"I've never seen anything like it in my 39 years of tennis. Unbelievable," wrote tennis legend Boris Becker on social media platform X.
It took nearly two hours for play to be resumed. Alcaraz went on to win the match 6-3, 6-1 and was now set to meet Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner in the semis.