started his Indian Wells title defence by reuniting with arguably the biggest hero of last year's tournament. Twelve months ago, the Spaniard's quarter-final match was suspended for almost two hours when a swarm of bees invaded the main stadium court and took a liking to the moving spidercam.

Tournament organisers called in reinforcements - namely Lance Davis, known as the 'killer bee' man. After saving Alcaraz's match and getting rid of the swarm, Davis was invited back to the tournament this year to do the coin toss for the No. 2 seed's opening match.

Two-time defending champion Alcaraz took on Quentin Halys in the second round on Saturday. As he approached the net for the coin toss, the umpire acquainted Alcaraz with Davis - but the pair needed no introduction.

The 21-year-old seemed delighted to see the 'bee man' back at the tournament, this time in far more positive circumstances, and greeted Davis with a hug. "I hope this year not gonna be bees!" Alcaraz joked.

Commentator Kevin Skinner added: "By the way, here's a notable man. Lance Davis! King bee, from Killer Bee Live Removal.

"Remember last year in Alcaraz's match against [Alexander] Zverev when the bees swarmed the court? That was the hero of the day.

"Get a gander at the shoes if you can for killer bee Lance Davis, he's got the black and yellow shoes just to go with the theme. He cleaned house and vacuumed the bees last year."

After catching up with Davis, Alcaraz ran to the baseline to prepare for his match against Halys, safe in the knowledge that an expert was on hand if he faced anther bee invasion.

The Spaniard got just nine minutes into his quarter-final match against Zverev last year when the bees started flying around his head, with one even stinging him. He raced into the locker room as play was suspended when the bees continued to invade the court.

Less than an hour later, Davis arrived and quickly made an impression. In scenes that went viral, the president of Killer Bee Live Removal rocked up in nothing more than sunglasses, a long sleeve shirt and jeans, and calmly vacuumed up the bees without any protection.

He then ran through the stands, high-fiving spectators and even posing for photos with some of them. Davis also convened with the players and tournament officials before play finally resumed an hour and 48 minutes later.

Davis even caught the attention of Ben Stiller, who was watching the match coverage and took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to brand him "very cool" and "fearless".

The 'king bee' has been working with bees since 1971 and launched his company in 1986. He later told the that his work truck had been taken in for servicing when he got the call from Indian Wells and had to get his vehicle back so he could save the day.

"I had to go drive over to Palms To Pines Automotives and get my truck," he explained. "They were just starting to work and I went, 'No, put it back together. I've got to go. I've got an emergency call!'"

Davis never got to watch the rest of Alcaraz's match against Zverev but he made up for it this year, returning to see the world No. 2 in action against Halys.