Carlos Alcaraz was all smiles during his latest match at Indian Wells and it was thanks to a certain group of fans cheering him on in the crowd.
The two-time champion sealed his place in the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4, win over Canada’s Denis Shapovalov. A player who has been in solid form this season and beat three top 10 players en route to winning the Dallas Open last month. Alcaraz quickly took control of proceedings by starting the match with a five-game winning run before facing some resistance. The second set was a closer encounter with the second seed breaking once before sealing victory.
“I knew at the beginning of the match that I had to be really focused,” Alcaraz told reporters after his latest win. “I had to start the match really strong, knowing it was going to be a really tough battle. Just really happy that I was able to do it. Denis is a great player. He’s been playing really good tennis lately. He started the season really strong with really powerful shots.”
Alcaraz is now on a 14-match winning streak at Indian Wells, where he is bidding to become the first player born in 1991 or later to win the trophy for a third time. Since September, he has won 19 out of 20 matches against players ranked outside the top 25, with his only defeat being against Tomas Machac in Shangahi.
Watching his latest performance was a group of about 10 fans who were all dressed as bees in reference to what happened during his quarter-final match at the tournament 12 months ago. Alcaraz’s clash with Alexander Zverev was halted after a swarm of bees invaded the court and a local expert Lance Davis was brought in to deal with the issue. The invasion resulted in a delay of almost two hours.
The fans were making buzzing noises and cheering Alcaraz on, which he says helped him improve his performance on the court. He later took a photo with the group after his win over Shapovalov.
“It is funny, because, I mean, it helped me a lot, because, you know, during the whole first set, I was looking at them and laughing,” Alcaraz said.
“And I always say that when I’m laughing, when I’m having fun on the court I show good tennis. So probably thanks to them so I could show good tennis. I didn’t realize until the second game, the camera put them on the screen. So it was funny. I took a selfie with them at the end, because I think they deserve it.”
Alcaraz will be hoping his bee fans will return for his next match on Wednesday, which will be against 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov. Dimitrov ousted Gael Monfils 7-5(4), 4-6, 7-6(2).
