Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, played against the ‘Class of 92’ throughout his career and felt this match was “the tie of the round”.
“They’ve been at the top of the game since 1992, 33 years, and are still at the top and still producing,” the Irishman said.
“As you get older it becomes a lot more difficult as players like me, Stephen Hendry, Alan McManus, Peter Ebdon have all found out. It’s hard to cope in terms of tension, intensity and also to be able to devote your life to the game.
“You become a father, a family man and it’s hard to dedicate themselves to the game but they still have the appetite, willingness and hunger and that’s an incredible talent as well.
“I’ve been logging heads with them for 30 years. I’ve beaten them all but also lost to them all in big finals. I just had great times playing them and you used to relish it as it was a great test of your own game.”
Doherty, who is part of the BBC TV team for the competition, felt the atmosphere would be electric.
“When you see them coming into the Crucible for their match they will get a standing ovation as they did in the Masters,” he added. “We might not see the kind of these three again so we have to enjoy them while we can. They’ve given the sport great entertainment, great matches and are still delivering.”
Shaun Murphy tipped Judd Trump, who beat him 13-10 on Monday, to win the title but thought the Williams-Higgins clash would be “fabulous for the sport”.
He added: “The Class of 92 are three of the best players we’ve ever seen and it’s wonderful we still get to watch them.
“None of them would be here if they didn’t want to be, they obviously love it enough to put themselves through it.”