ALEX Davies is ready to pit his skills against snooker great John Higgins.

And he believes there could be no better time to face the legendary Scot.

The Clacton professional will play the four-time world champion at the Haikou World Open, in China.

The event will run from March 10 to 16 and Clacton professional Davies sealed his place after a thrilling 5-4 success against Jimmy Robertson, in their qualifier at the Barnsley Metrodome.

“I’m really looking forward to it and this will be the first time I’ve played John,” said Davies, who has his own practice room at Clacton Snooker Centre, in Valley Road.

“If we’d been drawn to play each other five years ago, I’d have thought ‘I’m in trouble’.

“John’s a top player – one of the best in the business – so of course there’s a chance he might blow me away.

“But he’s not in the best form at the moment so it might be a good time to play him.

“I love the challenge of facing the top players and prefer it to playing players further down the rankings, because they can be a bit of an unknown quantity.”