At the China Open, Selby became only the fourth player in history to miss the final black on a 147 attempt, and only the second – after Ken Doherty – to do so in a televised match, in a 5–1 defeat of Mark King. He then reached the final by defeating Ricky Walden 5–2, Williams 5–1 and Murphy 6–2, but lost 6–10 against Robertson. After the event he regained the number one spot from Trump. He finished off the season at the World Championship, where he beat Matthew Selt 10–4 in the first round, before losing 10–13 to Hawkins in the second round.