Scotland No.1 Alan Clyne will face his toughest challenge as a professional after being paired with France's Gregory Gaultier in the first round of the World Open in Kuwait, which starts on November 1.

The 23-year-old has never played a top-ten player on the world squash circuit and to underline the size of the Inverness right-hander’s task he will meet Gaultier on the same day the Frenchman is unveiled as the new world No.1.

Clyne, who is 92 places below Gaultier, will play last on the main showcourt next Sunday after coming through a tough qualifying event in Surrey two months ago.

"I haven't played someone so high in a tour event before, so it will be a really good experience,” said Clyne.

"I was delighted to get through qualifying and I knew then that I would be playing someone tough.

"And Greg is one of the toughest ones especially as he will be No 1 by then. I will give it my best shot and not take anything lying down."

Clyne, the No.5 seed, had reached the final of the Austrian Open at the weekend, before losing out in straight games to Finnish teenager Henrik Mustonen in Vienna. 

Mustonen had come through the qualifying and had beaten three seeds on his way to the final. He continued the run of shocks with a 12-10 11-5 11-9 win over the 22-year-old from Inverness, who is ranked No.91 in the world. 

But it was still a great result for Clyne, who had knocked out the Welsh No.2 seed, Rob Sutherland, in the quarter-finals and followed up with a 11-7 9-11 11-2 11-4 over England’s Jamie Haycocks in the semis.