Tom Richards is looking forward to his second round battle with world champion Nick Matthew at the Allam British Open on Thursday.
Richards has seen a lot of Matthew up close and personal in recent weeks.
The two were room-mates a week ago as Richards made his senior international debut, helping England to win the European Team Championships in Germany.
Now the 25-year-old Londoner is aiming to claim the most significant PSA victory of his career, having beaten the experienced Malaysian Ong Beng Hee in four games in the first round (11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 11-4).
Richards reached a career-high position of 15 in the April rankings and a good showing in the Open will help him to climb even further.
He said: "I have played Nick several times in the past, but the last was in the Nationals a year and a half ago. I have seen him play so often in tournaments and watched dozens of his matches on TV, so I know what to expect.
“It will be a very tough match but I want to test myself, to see how far I have come in this game. I feel I am moving well and enjoyed playing on the glass court against Ong Beng Hee.
“It’s a cold court so it will obviously favour the players who can play tight balls into the front corners,” added the Englishman.
Matthew himself said: “It should be a good match. Tom is hungry and will believe he can win. At this stage of his career he is ready for a big scalp so it should be a good game.”
Matthew was pleased to get acclimatised on the cold court today in his hard-fought win over rising Hong Kong star Max Lee but revealed it was not the coldest court he had played on. “That would have to be in Saudi a few years ago,” he said. "It was so cold you could see your breath.
“With a cold court the quality of your squash has to be high.”