Vafaei enjoyed wins over Rod Lawler, Zak Surety, Sanderson Lam and Scott Donaldson at the Northern Ireland Open to reach his first ranking event quarter-final, where he lost 5–3 to Mark King. He also had a good run at the Welsh Open as he beat Lam, Christopher Keogan and Ali Carter to advance to the fourth round and he was defeated 4–1 by Judd Trump.&lt;ref name="2016/17"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; A month after the Welsh Open, Vafaei also had a good run of form at the China Open, defeating Joe Perry 5–2, Ben Woollaston 5–4 and Rory McLeod 5–3. This booked him a place in the second ranking event quarter-final of his career within the space of a few months. His opponent was to be Judd Trump and Vafaei (the world number 74) was able to keep the world number two at bay and win by 5–3. He lost his first semi-final 6–1 to Mark Williams. After overcoming Hatem Yassen 10–1 and Matthew Selt 10–6, Vafaei was one win away from qualifying for the World Championship, but narrowly lost 10–8 to Tom Ford. He finished the campaign inside the top 64 in the world rankings and retained his place on the tour.