Bees invasion forced tennis match postponement

There were bee-zarre scenes on day one of the WTA 1000 event in Guadalajara as a match was postponed when a swarm of bees attached themselves to the umpire’s chair.

Petra Kvitova and Bernarda Pera took to the court around 90 minutes late after a beekeeper was sent to remove them.

Fans were left confused when the evening session in Guadalajara was postponed, with no signs of the players on the main court.

It quickly became apparent that it was a swarm of bees behind the delay in play, as photos emerged of what looked like hundreds clinging to the umpire’s chair on the main show court.

There was a gap of less than two hours between the end of the day session and when the night session was expected to start, with the swarm of bees managing to take over part of the umpire’s chair within that time. The Guadalajara Open itself tweeted: “Bee-right back,” with a photo showing the huge size of the swarm.

Former pro Melanie South was on-site and tweeted: “Bees have taken over the umpires chair here in Guadalajara got to be a first for reasons your match is delayed #kvitova vs #pera.” She later shared a photo of a beekeeper being sent to remove them from the chair, writing: “Save the bees.”