 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 16 April – 2 May 2011 |
| Venue | Crucible Theatre |
| City | Sheffield |
| Country | England |
| Organisation | World Snooker |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £1,111,000 |
| Winner's share | £250,000 |
| Highest break |
|
| Final | |
| Champion |  John Higgins (SCO) |
| Runner-up |  Judd Trump (ENG) |
| Score | 18–15 |
← 2010 2012 → | |
The 2011 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 2011 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 35th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible and was the last ranking event of the 2010–11 snooker season. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and had a total prize fund of £1,111,000, with £250,000 going to the winner of the event. The tournament was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred.
Neil Robertson was the defending champion, but lost 8–10 against Judd Trump in the first round. Trump became the youngest player since 1990 to reach the final where he lost to John Higgins. This was Higgins' fourth world title, becoming only the fourth man to win four or more championships in the modern era. Ding Junhui meanwhile became the first player from China to reach the semi-finals. Mark King and Ding Junhui made the highest breaks at the Crucible with 138; while James Wattana compiled the highest break of the tournament during qualifying with 141.
An audience of 3.93 million viewers watched the fourth session in Great Britain with 2.03 million watching the third session of the final.[1] The second and fourth sessions of the final were the most watched programmes on BBC Two for their particular weeks. Viewing figures on the BBC peaked at 6.6 million viewers. The figure of 3.9 million who watched the final session was up 50% on the year before. It was estimated that nearly half of the UK population watched the tournament at some point. In China, Ding Junhui's semi-final had an average watch of 19.4 million with a peak audience of 30 million over seven television networks.[2] A record number of fans bought tickets, with the last four days and other sessions sold out with sales up 15% on 2010.[3]
- ^ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Barb.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 September 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ "Snooker Scores Massive Viewing Figures". Matchroom Sport. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ "Record Sales For Crucible Snooker Tickets". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2012.