Alcaraz survives bee swarm to reach semis at Paribas

• 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 on Thursday night.

Alcaraz swatted at the bees buzzing around him before running for cover and the tennis 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.

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

Jannik Sinner rolled past 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 190 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.

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

Tommy Paul rallied past ninth-seeded Casper Ruud 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 to reach his second career Masters 1000 semifinal. Paul will play fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev in the other semifinal.

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

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. But Swiatek turned it on from there, winning the final five games to take the first set. Swiatek moved on to the semifinals for the third straight year.

Coco Gauff ousted Yuan Yue 6-4, 6-3 despite 17 double faults against seven aces.