diff --git a/.hgtags b/.hgtags
--- a/.hgtags
+++ b/.hgtags
@@ -31,3 +31,4 @@ 96eb24bea2f5f9258775245e3f09f6fa0a4dda01
 3121217a812c956d7dd5a5875821bd73e8002a32 v4.11.0
 fa98b454715ac5b912f39e84af54345909a2a805 v4.11.1
 3982abcfdcc229a723cebe52d3a9bcff10bba08e v4.11.2
+33195f145db9172f0a8f1487e09207178a6ab065 v4.11.3
diff --git a/docs/release-notes/release-notes-4.11.3.rst b/docs/release-notes/release-notes-4.11.3.rst
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/release-notes/release-notes-4.11.3.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+|RCE| 4.11.3 |RNS|
+------------------
+
+Release Date
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+- 2018-02-14
+
+
+New Features
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+
+
+General
+^^^^^^^
+
+
+
+Security
+^^^^^^^^
+
+
+
+Performance
+^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+
+
+Fixes
+^^^^^
+
+- Pull requests: fixed problems with opening pull requests when default branches
+  in repository didn't exist or were closed.
+
+
+Upgrade notes
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+- Unscheduled bugfix release fixing pull request opening issues reported.
diff --git a/docs/release-notes/release-notes.rst b/docs/release-notes/release-notes.rst
--- a/docs/release-notes/release-notes.rst
+++ b/docs/release-notes/release-notes.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ Release Notes
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1
 
+   release-notes-4.11.3.rst
    release-notes-4.11.2.rst
    release-notes-4.11.1.rst
    release-notes-4.11.0.rst
diff --git a/rhodecode/public/js/src/rhodecode/pullrequests.js b/rhodecode/public/js/src/rhodecode/pullrequests.js
--- a/rhodecode/public/js/src/rhodecode/pullrequests.js
+++ b/rhodecode/public/js/src/rhodecode/pullrequests.js
@@ -217,6 +217,12 @@ ReviewersController = function () {
         prButtonLock(true, null, 'reviewers');
         $('#user').hide(); // hide user autocomplete before load
 
+        if (sourceRef.length !== 3 || targetRef.length !== 3) {
+            // don't load defaults in case we're missing some refs...
+            $('.calculate-reviewers').hide();
+            return
+        }
+
         var url = pyroutes.url('repo_default_reviewers_data',
                 {
                     'repo_name': templateContext.repo_name,
diff --git a/rhodecode/templates/pullrequests/pullrequest.mako b/rhodecode/templates/pullrequests/pullrequest.mako
--- a/rhodecode/templates/pullrequests/pullrequest.mako
+++ b/rhodecode/templates/pullrequests/pullrequest.mako
@@ -202,9 +202,13 @@
           // translate our select2 id into a text, it's a mapping to show
           // simple label when selecting by internal ID.
           var id, refData;
-          if (selectedRef === undefined) {
+          if (selectedRef === undefined || selectedRef === null) {
             id = element.val();
             refData = element.val().split(':');
+
+            if (refData.length !== 3){
+                refData = ["", "", ""]
+            }
           } else {
             id = selectedRef;
             refData = selectedRef.split(':');
@@ -216,7 +220,6 @@
           }
 
           var data = {id: id, text: text};
-
           callback(data);
       };
   };
@@ -415,8 +418,10 @@
     };
   };
 
-  var initTargetRefs = function(refsData, selectedRef){
+  var initTargetRefs = function(refsData, selectedRef) {
+
     Select2Box($targetRef, {
+        placeholder: "${_('Select commit reference')}",
       query: function(query) {
         queryTargetRefs(refsData, query);
       },
@@ -518,7 +523,9 @@
   % if c.default_source_ref:
   // in case we have a pre-selected value, use it now
   $sourceRef.select2('val', '${c.default_source_ref}');
+  // diff preview load
   loadRepoRefDiffPreview();
+  // default reviewers
   reviewersController.loadDefaultReviewers(
       sourceRepo(), sourceRef(), targetRepo(), targetRef());
   % endif