In his opening match, Highfield defeated Barry Pinches 5–2 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where narrowly lost 5–4 to Mark Williams in the first round.&lt;ref name="2013/14"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; He also qualified for the Indian Open but withdrew from the event before it began. Highfield received automatic entry into both the Welsh Open and UK Championship as all 128 players on the snooker tour began these events in the first round, but he lost on both occasions. His disappointing season saw him finish 83rd in the world rankings and, as Highfield had now been relegated from the main tour, he played in Q School to regain his place. Highfield beat Canada's Alex Pagulayan in his final match of the second event to earn a new two-year tour card for the &lt;a href="2014%E2%80%9315%20snooker%20season"&gt;2014/2015&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="2015%E2%80%9316%20snooker%20season"&gt;2015/2016&lt;/a&gt; seasons.