2011 World Snooker Championship

• Debutants at the Crucible were Andrew Pagett and Jimmy Robertson. This was also the first time that they qualified for the main draw of a ranking tournament.[4] Neither of them reached the second round, as Pagett lost 7–10 against Jamie Cope and Robertson lost 1–10 against Mark Selby.[5][6]
• Defending champion Neil Robertson lost 8–10 against Judd Trump.[7]
• Barry Hawkins and Rory McLeod reached the second round of the World Championship for the first time in their career. Hawkins defeated Stephen Maguire 10–9 and McLeod defeated Ricky Walden 10–6.[8][9]
• Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled his 100th Crucible century break in his first round match against Dominic Dale.[10] O'Sullivan won the match 10–2.[11] O'Sullivan attempted to withdraw from the World Championship one week before it started, but later, when asked for a written confirmation, changed his decision.[12]
• Five out of the sixteen seeded players lost their first round matches: Neil Robertson, Stephen Maguire, Ricky Walden, Marco Fu and Peter Ebdon. Fu lost 8–10 against Martin Gould and Ebdon lost 8–10 against Stuart Bingham.[13][14]

• Mark Selby made three records in his 13–4 victory over Stephen Hendry.[15] Selby became the first snooker player to compile six century breaks at a World Championship match in the Crucible.[16][17][18] This was also a record for a best of 25 frame match and took the number of Selby's century breaks in the season to 54, a record previously held by Hendry.[17][19]
• Ding Junhui came back from 9–12 to defeat Stuart Bingham 13–12. Ding qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in his career.[20]

• Mark Williams defeated Mark Allen 13–5 to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship for the first time since 2003, when he won his second world title.[21]
• Judd Trump, rated an 80–1 outsider at the beginning of the tournament, defeated previous year's runner up Graeme Dott 13–5 to reach the semi-finals.[22][23]
• Ding Junhui won his match 13–10 against Mark Selby to become the third player from Asia after James Wattana and Marco Fu and the first from China to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship.[24][25] As a result of Selby's exit from the tournament Williams became the new world number one after the event.[25]

• Judd Trump defeated Ding Junhui 17–15 in an absorbing match to become the second youngest player, after Stephen Hendry in 1990, to reach the final of the World Championship.[26] Trump also reached his second consecutive ranking final after winning the China Open at the start of the month.[27] In China, the second session of the match drew a peak audience of nearly 30 million viewers and averaging over 19 million, with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association claiming it was the highest rated sports programme of 2011 up to that point;[28] however, the Women's Tennis Association claimed that the women's singles final of the Australian Open held earlier in the year drew an audience of 60 million viewers on Chinese television.[29][30]
• Mark Williams won the first session 5–3, and could maintain his advantage after the second session, which ended 4–4. John Higgins then won six of the next eight frames, to lead 13–11. Higgins won the match 17–14 to reach his third final in five years.[31] During the 28th frame Higgins was heckled by a member of the audience, "How did you swallow that £300,000, John? ... You're a disgrace to snooker." in reference to the News of the World allegations the previous year, for which the heckler was later ejected from the venue.[32]

• Ted Lowe, BBC commentator for many years and the deviser of the long-running snooker programme Pot Black, died at the age of 90 on the morning of 1 May. Before the start of the final that day, a minute's applause in honour of Lowe took place.[33]
• The referee of the final was Jan Verhaas, who refereed his fourth World Championship final.[34][35]
• There was a small format change with sessions of 8, 9, 8 and 10 frames rather than 8, 8, 8 and 11.
• After the first session was tied at four frames all, Trump won the second session 6–3 to take a 10–7 lead into the second day's play.[36][37] Higgins took a 13–12 lead after the third session of the final, which he won 6–2.[38] The score levelled at fourteen frames all, but Higgins won four of the last five frames to win the match 18–15. Higgins won his 24th ranking title and became only the fourth player to win the World Championship four times in the modern era after Ray Reardon, Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.[39]
• The highest break of the tournament was 138 made by both Mark King and Ding Junhui. This was the first time that the highest break of the tournament was lower than 140 since 1987, when it was 127 made by Steve Davis.[40]

The preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament took place on 3 March 2011 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. (WPBSA members not on The Tour.)[51][52][53][54]

Round 1

Sam Baird	5–1	Colin Mitchell
Tony Brown	2–5	Ali Bassiri
David Singh	4–5	David Gray
Ian Stark	5–2	Paul Cavney
Philip Minchin	0–5	Stephen Rowlings
Tony Knowles	4–5	Del Smith
Les Dodd	4–5	Stephen Ormerod

Round 2

Neil Selman	3–5	Sam Baird
Ali Bassiri	0–5	David Gray
Ian Stark	0–5	Stephen Rowlings
Del Smith	5–0	Stephen Ormerod

The qualifying rounds 1–4 for the tournament took place between 4 and 10 March 2011 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. The final round of qualifying took place between 12 and 13 March 2011 at the same venue.[51][52][53][54]

Round 1

Reanne Evans	6–10	Sam Baird
Jak Jones	3–10	Stephen Rowlings

Rounds 2–5

	Round 2 Best of 19 frames				Round 3 Best of 19 frames				Round 4 Best of 19 frames				Round 5 Best of 19 frames
		Kyren Wilson	10			Joe Swail	6			Rory McLeod	10			Mark Davis	5
		Dermot McGlinchey	5			Kyren Wilson	10			Kyren Wilson	3			Rory McLeod	10
		Liu Song	10			Adrian Gunnell	9			Mark Joyce	6			Joe Perry	10
		Michael Judge	8			Liu Song	10			Liu Song	10			Liu Song	6
		James Wattana	10			Andy Hicks	2			Jamie Burnett	10			Liang Wenbo	7
		Justin Astley	3			James Wattana	10			James Wattana	8			Jamie Burnett	10
		Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon	8			Alfie Burden	7			Mike Dunn	10			Mark King	10
		Sam Baird	10			Sam Baird	10			Sam Baird	9			Mike Dunn	5
		James McBain	10			Ian McCulloch	5			Michael Holt	10			Dominic Dale	10
		Issara Kachaiwong	9			James McBain	10			James McBain	8			Michael Holt	6
		Igor Figueiredo	5			Joe Jogia	10			Robert Milkins	10			Martin Gould	10
		Joe Delaney	10			Joe Delaney	4			Joe Jogia	4			Robert Milkins	6
		Liu Chuang	10			Jimmy White	9			Tom Ford	8			Ryan Day	10
		David Gray	3			Liu Chuang	10			Liu Chuang	10			Liu Chuang	7
		David Morris	8			Barry Pinches	7			Peter Lines	6			Judd Trump	10
		David Gilbert	10			Dave Gilbert	10			Dave Gilbert	10			Dave Gilbert	4
		Paul Davison	10			Anthony McGill	7			Fergal O'Brien	10			Matthew Stevens	10
		Stephen Rowlings	5			Paul Davison	10			Paul Davison	4			Fergal O'Brien	9
		Patrick Wallace	10			Rod Lawler	5			Matthew Selt	10			Marcus Campbell	10
		Del Smith	2			Patrick Wallace	10			Patrick Wallace	9			Matthew Selt	6
		Michael White	10			Matthew Couch	3			Anthony Hamilton	10			Barry Hawkins	10
		Adam Wicheard	2			Michael White	10			Michael White	7			Anthony Hamilton	5
		Liam Highfield	8			Jack Lisowski	10			Steve Davis	10			Stephen Lee	10
		Kuldesh Johal	10			Kuldesh Johal	7			Jack Lisowski	9			Steve Davis	2
		Simon Bedford	10			Jamie Jones	10			Dave Harold	10			Gerard Greene	9
		Noppon Saengkham	3			Simon Bedford	6			Jamie Jones	9			Dave Harold	10
		Ben Woollaston	10			Stuart Pettman	10			Alan McManus	10			Stuart Bingham	10
		Jamie O'Neill	8			Ben Woollaston	5			Stuart Pettman	8			Alan McManus	2
		Andrew Pagett	10			Bjorn Haneveer	4			Nigel Bond	9			Andrew Higginson	6
		Zhang Anda	6			Andrew Pagett	10			Andrew Pagett	10			Andrew Pagett	10
		Xiao Guodong	10			Jimmy Robertson	10			Tony Drago	8			Ken Doherty	6
		Kurt Maflin	9			Xiao Guodong	9			Jimmy Robertson	10			Jimmy Robertson	10

There were 74 century breaks in the televised stage of the World Championship.[55][56]

There were 73 century breaks in the qualifying stage of the World Championship.[55]