At the German Masters, O'Sullivan lost 4–5 to Mark King in the last 32 despite leading 4–1. O'Sullivan entered the World Grand Prix seeded fifth on the one-year ranking list. He defeated Yan Bingtao 4–2 in the first round, but lost 1–4 to Neil Robertson in the second. In the final event of the Home Nations series, the Welsh Open, O'Sullivan progressed past Tom Ford 4–1 in the first round. His defence was then ended early by Mark Davis, who beat him 3–4 in the second round after O'Sullivan had led 3–0.