was the 88th official maximum, and Hendry equalled two records held by Ronnie O'Sullivan: the most official maximum breaks in professional snooker (11) and the most at the venue (3). Hendry won the match 10–4 in a rematch of one of his greatest upset defeats, in the first round of the 2000 World Snooker Championship when Hendry was defending champion and Bingham was making his television debut. Zhu Ying became the first Chinese person to referee a match at the Crucible by officiating the match between Hendry and Bingham. Mark Williams stated on Twitter before the championship that he hated the Crucible and wished that the tournament was played in China. Williams was subsequently booed as he was announced to the crowd before his opening match, and was later fined a total of £4,000. Ding Junhui and Ryan Day went to a , which was won by Day. Ding said that the table conditions were not right and complained about spectators being disruptive during the match. He was later fined £250, and warned by the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee for swearing during the live press conference. In his match against Ken Doherty, Neil Robertson made three consecutive century breaks, as he completed a 10–4 victory. Andrew Higginson and David Gilbert reached the second round of the event for the first time in their respective careers. Higginson defeated Stephen Lee 10–6, and Gilbert defeated Martin Gould 10–8. Half of the seeded players were beaten in the first round. Bingham, Graeme Dott, Murphy, Lee, Gould, Ding Junhui, Allen and Selby all lost their places in the tournament. This marked the most top 16 players to suffer defeat in the first round since 1992. There was the most Asian players in the history of the event, five. Second round The second round was played from 26 to 30 April, as the best of 25 frames held over three sessions. Multiple time winners Higgins and Hendry had made 45 appearances at the Crucible between them, having both had played in every tournament since 1995; but this was the only time they ever met at the Crucible. Higgins made the 500th century break of his career in his match against Hendry. Two frames later Hendry made his 775th. Hendry defeated Higgins 13–4 to reach his 19th quarter-final at the event. At that time only eight players had played at the Crucible at least that