[9] He followed this by defeating two former champions in succession; provisional World Number 1 Shaun Murphy 13–4 in the second round and then 2002 winner Peter Ebdon 13–9 in the quarter-final.

He won his second non-ranking tournament, the Huangshan Cup in China, with a 5–3 win over the reigning Grand Prix champion Marco Fu.

[13] He reached the same stage of the Grand Prix, defeating veterans Steve Davis and John Parrott before losing to Ryan Day, again 5–6[14] The third occasion was the UK Championship where wins over Peter Ebdon and Mark Williams were followed by a close 7–9 defeat to the man he was victorious against in the Huangshan Cup final in China, Marco Fu.

After thirteen years as a professional, Carter defeated the likes of Jimmy White, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy, Anthony Hamilton, and Joe Swail to finally win his first ranking tournament – the 2009 Welsh Open.

He finished the season strongly by reaching the semi-finals at the China Open and the World Championship, losing in the latter to eventual champion, Neil Robertson, by 12–17.

[citation needed] Carter's 2011–12 season got off to a poor start as he exited the first two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, in the first round.

[19][20] Although he reached the quarter-finals of the China Open with wins over Dominic Dale and Lu Ning before losing 2–5 to Ding Junhui, Carter found himself out of the world's top 16 for the first time since 2005.

[21] Before the start of the World Championship Carter stated that his future in the game depended on his health, as his ten-year battle with Crohn's disease continued.

[23] This looked to have an effect on the snooker table too as he raced into an 8–1 lead over Mark Davis in the opening session of the first round, before returning to close out the match 10–2.

[19] He played world number 2 Judd Trump in the second round and from 9–12 behind, produced a superb fightback to record the result of his season to take the match 13–12 and reach the quarter-finals.

[28] He won his first match in a ranking event of the season by beating Robert Milkins 5–4 in the Shanghai Masters and then whitewashed Stephen Maguire 5–0 to advance to the quarter-finals.

[28] After scoring comfortable victories over Fraser Patrick, Anthony Hamilton and Michael Holt at the German Masters, Carter then took advantage of a poor performance from Neil Robertson to reach the final, where he played Marco Fu.

[37] After his first round loss to Mark Davis in the Shanghai Masters, he was forced to withdraw from the next two ranking events due to health problems documented below.

[39] He was beaten 13–9 by Mark Selby in the second round of the World Championship and bemoaned his opponent's negative playing style, saying that he was the only one trying to make things happen during the game.

[45] Carter received a standing ovation at the Masters and beat Barry Hawkins 6–1, before Neil Robertson defeated him by a reversal of this scoreline in the quarter-finals.

[51] At the World Grand Prix he beat Luca Brecel 4–1 and Tom Ford 4–0 to reach his first ranking event quarter-final of the season, but lost 1–4 to Joe Perry.

[54] Carter came through a trio of matches to qualify for the World Championship and held his nerve after leading defending champion Stuart Bingham 5–1 and 8–5 to beat him 10–9.

[56] Carter whitewashed John Higgins 5–0 in the quarter-finals of the World Open and swept past Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6–1 to play Joe Perry in the final.

[62] He also reached the quarter-finals of the International Championship after beating Jamie Barrett, Andrew Higginson, Stephen Maguire, and Shaun Murphy.

[64] In October, Carter reached the quarter-finals of the English Open after wins over Rory McLeod, Luca Brecel, Matthew Selt, and Daniel Wells, before losing 2–5 to Stuart Bingham.

He defeated Martin O'Donnell, Mark Allen, David Gilbert, and Xiao Guodong to reach the final, but eventually lost 6–10 to Judd Trump.

[73] He stated in April 2014 that he would have chosen to take a break from snooker for six to twelve months, but this had not been possible as he needed to regain his place in the top 16 of the world rankings.

[74] A month later, World Snooker announced that Carter had been diagnosed with cancer in his lung and would be taking a break from the sport to receive a course of intensive chemotherapy.

[42] In August 2014, he successfully completed treatment for this secondary tumour (metastatic recurrence of the testicular cancer), including surgery, and returned to the World Snooker Tour in October at the General Cup, which he won.