This was the fourth biggest margin in a World final, subsequently equalled by O'Sullivan against Ali Carter in 2008 and Kyren Wilson in 2020.

The first World Snooker Championship final took place in 1927 at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England, and was won by Joe Davis.

[3][4][5] Scottish player Stephen Hendry had been the most successful participant at the World Championship in the modern era, having won the title seven times.

[12] "It's not the best preparation you can have, but if you're happy off the table you can carry that over," commented the two-time world champion after the match with regard to his fatherhood.

[12] Six seeded players–Stephen Lee, Quinten Hann, Steve Davis, Peter Ebdon, Ken Doherty and Jimmy White–lost in the first round.

[14] Having already been warned for his language by referee Lawrie Annandale in the eleventh frame, he confronted his rival once the match had ended and he admitted to having told him "You're short, bald and always will be, and can have me outside whenever you want".

[18] McCulloch, whose safety and matchplay were praised by his rival, went on to win two frames on the trot and sealed the first Crucible victory in his career.

Day, who became the first ever player to make three centuries on his debut at the World Championship,[21] put himself 9–7 ahead with breaks of 111, 68, 54, 128, 60, 112, 71 and 57, but 1998 champion John Higgins forced a decider with a 68 and took it with a result of 68–50.

Facing 2001 champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round, he had a chance to take a 4–2 lead, but he would end up losing 6–10 in a match that featured a combined three centuries by both players.

[25] Ali Carter, taking part in his second consecutive first-round match of the World Championship after having made his debut the previous season, faced David Gray, who overcame a "nightmare start" and made two consecutive half-centuries in the last two frames to secure victory with a result of 10–7.

[28] In a tactical match, Matthew Stevens, finalist in 2000, overcame a two-frame deficit against Thai player James Wattana and won the last five frames to advance into the second round.

[29] Paul Hunter, who had lost the Players Championship final against White two weeks earlier, took a 5–4 lead against 1991 world champion John Parrott, who could have levelled the match at 7 each, but missed a pot.

[35] Perry put together breaks of 55, 53 and 82 to secure victory and advance into the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in his career.

[37] Going into the last session, Dott managed to put himself 12–7 up at one point, but Higgins fired back with breaks of 89 and 130 and won another one to reduce the deficit to only a couple of frames.

[24] Hamilton, who was eyeing his third appearance in the quarter-finals after a year in which he had not managed to qualify for the Crucible, shared the first two sessions with Swail and went into the final one tied at 8–8.

[40] He only needed to play three frames of that last session to wrap up the win and earn a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in his career.

[43] Perry, contesting his first ever quarter-final, was six frames behind Stevens at the beginning of the last session at 5–11, but managed to pull back to 10–12 and said he felt he could win it.

[44] Dott had never reached this stage of the tournament before either, and displayed what he thought was "a rubbish game", but defeated Gray 13–7, closing out the match with a break of 62.

Several breaks of over eighty and ninety points and a 117 century gave O'Sullivan a clear advantage over Hendry in the two first sessions, which meant that at the end of the second one, he was 13–3 ahead.

[49] O'Sullivan won the match 18–8, the biggest margin in a World final since Hendry's 18–5 victory over White in 1993[49] and the fourth largest in the history of the tournament, subsequently equalled by himself against Carter in 2008, and Kyren Wilson in 2020.

[50] Afterwards, Dott conceded that the newly crowned champion could be regarded as "the greatest of all time" and expressed elation over having avoided losing the final with a session to spare.

[51] O'Sullivan said he had felt at all times throughout the seventeen days that he would go on to win the tournament and thanked six-time world champion Ray Reardon for his advice, for he had recently begun to work alongside him on improving his overall game.

[7] 1st Round (Best of 19 frames) Brian Salmon 10–9 Chris Melling Ian Preece 10–8 Justin Astley Mike Hallett 10–6 James Leadbetter Mehmet Husnu 10–2 Craig MacGillivray Joe Delaney 10–6 Rodney Goggins Adrian Rosa 10–6 Steve James Adam Davies 10–8 David Hall

2nd Round (Best of 19 frames) Tom Ford 10–8 Martin Gould Craig Butler 10–9 Brian Salmon Luke Simmonds 10–8 Matthew Couch Ian Preece 9–0 Joe Johnson[b] Lee Walker 10–6 Mike Hallett Gary Thomson 10–2 Luke Fisher Peter Lines 10–4 Ian Brumby Dave Gilbert 10–6 Michael Wild Rory McLeod 10–7 Mehmet Husnu Jason Prince 10–6 Darryn Walker Joe Delaney 10–4 Andrew Higginson Neil Robertson 10–8 Martin Dziewialtowski Simon Bedford 10–5 Ian Sargeant Liu Song 10–5 Wayne Brown Leo Fernandez 10–9 Paul Sweeny Michael Rhodes 10–9 Terry Murphy Kwan Poomjang 10–9 Philip Williams Garry Hardiman 10–6 Billy Snaddon Munraj Pal 10–0 Andy Neck Colm Gilcreest 10–7 Steven Bennie Ryan Day 10–7 Adrian Rosa Tony Jones 10–3 Adam Davies Jason Ferguson 10–9 Carlo Giagnacovo Ricky Walden 10–0 Stephen Croft Joe Meara 10–8 Andrew Norman Adrian Gunnell 10–5 Steve Mifsud Ding Junhui 10–6 Atthasit Mahitthi Paul Davies 10–4 Alain Robidoux Supoj Saenla 10–8 Bradley Jones Paul Wykes 10–4 Kurt Maflin Stuart Mann 10–8 Jamie Cope Scott MacKenzie 10–3 Johl Younger