Hamilton began the 2006–07 season at the Northern Ireland Trophy, losing 3–5 against Ding Junhui. At the Grand Prix Hamilton lost all five of his group stage matches, and didn't advance to the knockout stage. Hamilton then lost 7–9 against Rod Lawler in the first round of the UK Championship, 3–6 in the wild-card round of the Masters, 4–5 against Tom Ford in the first round of the Malta Cup. Hamilton's best result of the season came at the Welsh Open, where he reached the quarter-finals by defeating both Joe Perry and Dave Harold, before losing his match to Steve Davis in a final- decider. Hamilton then lost in the first round of the China Open 4–5 against Mark Selby. Hamilton reached his fourth World Championship quarter-final, pulling off a surprise 10–3 victory over Marco Fu in round 1, and a 13–8 second round win over Ian McCulloch. However, he couldn't advance to the semi-final stage, losing 7–13 to Stephen Maguire. As a result, he did not retain his top sixteen place, falling to number 26 in the &lt;a href="Snooker%20world%20rankings%202007/2008"&gt;rankings for 2007/2008&lt;/a&gt;.