Carter scored comfortable victories over Fraser Patrick, Anthony Hamilton and Michael Holt at the German Masters and then took advantage of a poor performance from Neil Robertson to reach the final, where he played Marco Fu. Carter came back from 3–5 down to win 9–6 to secure the third ranking event title of his career. Fu gained revenge in the PTC Finals by beating Carter 4–1 in the second round, before Carter reached the final of the non-televised Championship League but lost 2–3 to Martin Gould. He was edged out 4–5 in the second round of the China Open by Mark Williams. At the World Championship Carter won seven frames in a row to see off Ben Woollaston 10–4 in the first round, and came back from 1–5 in the last 16 against Ronnie O'Sullivan to level at 7–7, before O'Sullivan stepped up a gear to knock out Carter 13–8. He ended the season ranked world number 16.