He beat David Gilbert and Rory McLeod, both 4–1, to reach the first round of the Welsh Open, where he faced John Higgins and was this time on the wrong end of a 4–1 scoreline. He narrowly missed out on a place in the World Open as he was defeated 4–5 by Mark King in the final round of qualifying. He also lost in qualifying for the China Open to the eventual winner of the event Peter Ebdon 0–5.