John Higgins is aiming to complete back-to-back title victories when the World Series reaches Berlin this weekend.

Higgins beat Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby on the way to winning the first event of the new tour in Jersey last month.

And the twice world champion, who is co-promoter of the World Series with his manager, Pat Mooney, heads to Germany full of confidence.

“I beat two of the best players in the world in Shaun and Mark to win in Jersey so that’s a real boost ahead of the remaining matches in the Series,” Higgins said.

“The next stop is Berlin and that is going to be fabulous. Snooker is huge over in Germany and I’m told the ticket sales have gone tremendously well.

“People throughout Europe watched the start of the World Series on Eurosport. There is enormous interest but that doesn’t surprise me because we are taking the game to countries where people might never get the chance to watch a top event like this.

“Other countries have expressed an interesting in joining the World Series in future years, including the Czech Republic, Holland, Belgium and Romania. That’s what it’s all about, taking snooker to as many people as possible.”

Snooker in Germany has grown rapidly in popularity in recent years. The German Snooker Association has ten times as many members as it did a decade ago and there are three times as many tables in the country as there were in 2001.

Higgins will be joined in Berlin by fellow Scots Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott as well as Murphy.

Lasse Munstermann and Patrick Einsle will provide the local opposition while Chris McBreen of New Zealand and Hans Blanckaert of Belgium, both of whom live in Germany, complete the field.