Hendry ensured he would feature in his 27th consecutive World Championship when he qualified by beating Yu again, this time by a 10–6 scoreline. He made a 147 on the opening day of the tournament in a match against Stuart Bingham. This was his third maximum break at the Crucible Theatre and his 11th in total, both records which he shared with Ronnie O'Sullivan (O'Sullivan is now on 15 maximums). He advanced to the second round with a 10–4 win over Bingham and then defeated an out of sorts defending champion John Higgins 13–4, his first victory over his compatriot in a ranking event since 2003, to set up a quarter-final meeting with Stephen Maguire. Hendry has reached 19 quarter-finals, with only eight players having played in the tournament that many times. Hendry lost 2–13 to Maguire and immediately announced his retirement from the game citing dissatisfaction with his standard of play in recent years and difficulty balancing competitive, commercial and personal commitments and revealed he had made the decision three months earlier.