How it unfolded
Ding Junhui had won more than 14 ranking titles by this tournament but had never reached a World Championship final. He beat strong favourite Judd Trump in the semi-final to reach his first Crucible final, the first ever by an Asian player. The news was covered extensively across China, and the domestic television audience for the final day is estimated to have far exceeded the British audience. But Mark Selby, a master of attrition, broke Ding's attacking rhythm with characteristically relentless safety play, winning 18-14 for his second world title. Ding finished runner-up, but reaching the final gave Chinese snooker real proof that the sport's biggest stage was actually winnable.
Why it still matters
This final showed for the first time that Asian snooker had reached the sport's highest level. Although Ding did not win, his run to the final drove a sharp rise in junior registrations and academy investment across China afterward, and it is regarded as the real starting point of the run that led to Zhao Xintong's title nine years later.