Hole in floor fails to dent Nick Matthew's bid for world squash title

The sight of a carpenter sanding and chipping away on court added to the array of bizarre stoppages which squash has experienced over the years thanks to a hole in the floor at the World Championships on Tuesday.

The incident occurred mid-match as Nick Matthew looked to close out a straight-game win over Qatari No 1 Abdulla Mohamad Al Tamimi at the National Squash Centre in Manchester. Leading 11-4, 11-8, 8-6, play was halted when Matthew went for a heavy retrieval lunge mid court which subsequently saw a wooden panel come loose.

As emergency workers attempted to fix the issue, and with play halted for over an hour, the two on-court presenters attempting to keep the crowd entertained with a Neil Diamond rendition only added to the oddities of the evening.

However, the Yorkshireman soon wrapped up an 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 victory - the last game credited at 101 minutes - and is now the only Englishman left in the men's last eight after defeats to Declan James and Daryl Selby.

Matthew, 37, said: "It was incredibly difficult to keep warm and stay mentally focused. You have to adapt and perhaps I just had the experiences with a few nerves at the end.

"Apologies for the heavy lunge. I'll work on my lightness of feet on my day off tomorrow."

There were reports that the panel was around the same area which caused problems during the National Championships earlier this year.

Over the years, play has been interrupted in squash for a variety of issues - despite the sport being played indoors.

These have included the sun stopping play at the World Open in Amsterdam in 1988 thanks to a low window, while falling leaves, which came through an air-conditioning system, played havoc to a tournament in Chichester in the 1980s when Jahangir Khan and Geoff Hunt were on court. 

Freezing temperatures during the 2013 British Open when the court was positioned on the KC Stadium pitch in Hull saw the action moved indoors.