Gilbert saw off Rod Lawler 5–0, Zhou Yuelong 5–2 and Zhang Anda 5–0 to play in the quarter-finals of the World Open, where he was beaten 5–2 by Neil Robertson. He had a pair of 6–2 victories over Adam Duffy and Mark Joyce at the UK Championship and made two centuries from 3–0 down against Ali Carter to edge through 6–5. Gilbert lost 6–2 to Jamie Jones in the fourth round. He won two matches to qualify for the German Masters and eliminated Marco Fu 5–3 in the first round, but was then defeated 5–4 by Stuart Bingham despite holding a 4–2 advantage at one stage. After being 6–1 upon Fergal O'Brien in the final qualifying round for the World Championship the scores were locked at 9–9. The decider took 123 minutes and 41 seconds, breaking the record for the longest frame in snooker history, with O'Brien taking it on the final brown. Nevertheless, his end of season ranking of 19 is the highest he has ever ended a campaign.