defeated the defending champion
Neil Robertson 6–2 in the opening round. All matches other than the final were held as the best-of-11 frames. In the first round, defending champion Neil Robertson lost 2–6 to amateur player
John Astley, but later revealed that he had been diagnosed with pulsatile tinnitus and would have withdrawn from the tournament regardless.
Shaun Murphy, the sixth
seed, lost 5–6 to another amateur player
Si Jiahui, and made comments afterward on
BBC Radio 5 Live suggesting that amateur players should not be permitted to compete in professional events. Robertson,
Mark Williams and
Mark Selby agreed with Murphy's comments, although the World Snooker Tour stated that giving amateurs the opportunity to compete in professional tournaments was a vital aspect of their development, and its chairman Steve Dawson stated that the drama caused by amateur players beating elite professionals had been "great for the sport". Critics on social media noted the irony that Murphy himself had attempted to qualify for golf's
2019 Open Championship as an amateur competitor.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh compiled five
century breaks while defeating
Stephen Hendry 6–1 in the first round, becoming only the fourth player after
Fergal O'Brien, Trump, and
Matthew Selt to make that many in a best-of-11 match. Reigning world champion Selby (seeded 2), Williams (9),
Ding Junhui (10), and reigning Masters champion
Yan Bingtao (12) all lost in the last 64. Selby trailed world number 63
Hossein Vafaei 0–5, but won the next two frames before Vafaei a in frame eight to win the match 6–2. Williams led world number 56
Anthony Hamilton 3–0, but lost the match 5–6, after which he apologised for falling asleep during the sixth frame, stating he had been feeling unwell following a case of
COVID-19. Ding lost 3–6 to world number 55
Sam Craigie, guaranteeing that he would drop out of the top 16 after the tournament and be ineligible to compete in the
Masters for the first time since
2006. After Craigie potted the final pink in frame eight, referee Maike Kesseler awarded him the frame for a 5–3 lead while the cue ball was still in motion. Craigie then placed his cue on the table and the cue ball collided with it. Speaking for the
BBC studio, pundit
Ken Doherty argued that the referee should have called a foul, respotted the pink, and given Ding the opportunity to come back to the table and attempt to level the match at 4–4; however, the frame had been awarded to Craigie prematurely. Speaking on Eurosport, pundit
Alan McManus also criticised Kesseler for awarding the frame before the cue ball had come to rest. Yan lost 3–6 to world number 53
Ben Woollaston. Five more seeded players exited in the round of 32. Third seed Trump, the previous year's runner-up, suffered a shock 3–6 defeat to world number 35 Selt.
John Higgins (7) and
Mark Allen (11) fell victim to comebacks by their opponents, with Higgins losing 5–6 to
Zhao Xintong after leading 5–3, and Allen losing 5–6 to
David Gilbert after leading 5–2.
Stephen Maguire (8) was whitewashed 0–6 by world number 40
Luca Brecel, while
Stuart Bingham (13) lost 5–6 to world number 45
Noppon Saengkham, despite coming back from 0–5 behind to force a . Eleven of the world's top-13-ranked players were eliminated before the last-16 stage of the tournament. Overall, just five seeded players reached the last 16:
Ronnie O'Sullivan (4),
Kyren Wilson (5),
Barry Hawkins (14),
Jack Lisowski (15), and
Anthony McGill (16). All five seeds progressed to the quarter-finals, along with Zhao, Brecel, and world number 102
Andy Hicks. He also requested that a photographer be removed from the arena floor. O'Sullivan came from 3–5 behind to level the match, but Wilson won the deciding frame for a 6–5 victory. The other quarter-finals were more one-sided as Brecel defeated McGill 6–2, Zhao won six consecutive frames to beat Lisowski 6–2, and Hawkins defeated Hicks 6–1. In the first semi-final, Brecel defeated Wilson 6–4, compiling four century breaks and three other breaks over 50, to become the first player from continental Europe to reach a Triple Crown final. In the second semi-final, Zhao defeated Hawkins 6–1, making a century break and an additional five breaks over 70, to reach his first ranking final. The final was played on 5 December 2021 between Brecel and Zhao as the best-of-19 frames held over two . It was the first in the tournament's history not to feature a player in the top 16 in the world rankings, and the second not to feature a player from the United Kingdom (Australian Robertson defeated Chinese player
Liang Wenbo in the
2015 final). Zhao led 5–3 after the afternoon session, and then won five of the seven frames played in the evening session to defeat Brecel 10–5 and win the first ranking title of his career. Zhao became the tournament's fourth non-British winner, after Ireland's
Patsy Fagan, China's Ding, and Australia's Robertson. He also became the fourth player from mainland China to win a ranking title, after Ding, Liang, and Yan. He moved up from 26th to ninth in the world rankings, which secured his place in the
2022 Masters in January. As runner-up, Brecel moved up the rankings from 40th to 18th. ==Tournament draw==