At the World Grand Prix, Ding beat Ben Woollaston 4–3, Peter Ebdon 4–0 and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4–3 to reach his first semi-final of the season against Shaun Murphy, which he lost 6–3. In the quarter-finals of the PTC Finals, Ding was defeated 4–2 by Barry Hawkins and he lost 5–1 to Lee Walker in China Open qualifying. Ding, who had won five ranking events two seasons before had left the world's top 16 and needed to qualify for the World Championship. He did so by winning three matches, conceding seven frames. He compiled his 400th century break of his career during this run. Ding beat Martin Gould by 10–8 and Judd Trump by 13–10 in the first and second rounds, respectively.&gt; He defeated Mark Williams 13–3 in the quarter-finals and Alan McManus 17–11 in the semi-final, during which he set a new record of seven century breaks; the most scored by a single player in a World Championship match at the Crucible Theatre. With this victory, Ding became the first Asian player to reach the final of the World Championship. He made 15 century breaks during the championship, one short of the record of 16 set by Stephen Hendry in the 2002 Championship. Ding lost the final 14–18 to Mark Selby. His end-of-season world ranking was nine.