advance to the knockout stage. Hamilton then lost 7–9 against Rod Lawler in the first round of the UK Championship, 3–6 in the wild-card round of the Masters, 4–5 against Tom Ford in the first round of the Malta Cup. Hamilton's best result of the season came at the Welsh Open, where he reached the quarter-finals by defeating both Joe Perry and Dave Harold, before losing his match to Steve Davis in a final- decider. Hamilton then lost in the first round of the China Open 4–5 against Mark Selby. Hamilton reached his fourth World Championship quarter-final, pulling off a surprise 10–3 victory over Marco Fu in round 1, and a 13–8 second round win over Ian McCulloch. However, he couldn't advance to the semi-final stage, losing 7–13 to Stephen Maguire. As a result, he did not retain his top sixteen place, falling to number 26 in the rankings for 2007/2008. 2007–2008 Hamilton began the 2007–08 season at the Shanghai Masters, where he lost 4–5 against Adrian Gunnell in the last qualifying round. Hamilton than was eliminated in the round robin stages of the Grand Prix, as he won only two of his five matches. He reached the second round of the Northern Ireland Trophy, by defeating Michael Judge 5–2 in the first round, but lost 2–5 against Shaun Murphy. He could qualify for the televised stage of the 2007 UK Championship, by defeating Barry Pinches 9–6, but lost against Mark Selby 5–9 in the first round. Hamilton then lost in the first round of the Welsh Open 2–5 against Andrew Higginson, and couldn't qualify for the China Open, after losing 1–5 against Marcus Campbell in the last qualifying round. He ensured his qualification for the World Championship with a 10–2 victory over Scott MacKenzie in the final qualifying round, but lost 3–10 to Stephen Maguire in the first round. This saw him drop from number 26 to 31 in the World Rankings at the start of the 2008/2009 season. 2008–2009 In 2008–09 Hamilton did not reach the last sixteen in any of the first five ranking events. He lost in the first round 3–5 against Andrew Higginson at the Northern Ireland Trophy, 2–5 against Marco Fu at the Shanghai Masters, and 0–5 against John Higgins at the Grand Prix, while he could not qualify for the Bahrain Championship and the UK Championship, as he lost in the qualifying round