In the qualifiers for the 2009 Shanghai Masters he beat former world champion John Parrott 5–0 (who later joked "I hope I retire before I have to play him...again" in reference to his earlier comment) before losing 5–3 to Mark Davis. His best run during the season was to the last 48 of the UK Championship, with victories over Daniel Wells, Jin Long and Jamie Burnett before losing 9–4 to Liang Wenbo. This meant that by the end of the season he had done enough to retain his tour status.