At the World Championship in Sheffield, however, Hawkins faced former Champion Ken Doherty in the first round and in the intimidating Crucible Theatre lost 10–1.

He started the 2008–09 season with a quarter-final appearance at the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy, by beating Jimmy White 5–3, Marco Fu 5–2 and Ryan Day 5–3 where he played O'Sullivan, losing 5–4 after producing a brave fightback from 4–1 to level at 4–4.

He did not qualify for the events in Wales and China, but made it to the World Championship by beating Daniel Wells 10–9,[9] but lost in the first round, finishing one place short of a return to the top 16.

[14] He led 8–6 after two sessions in a bid to reach his first quarter-final at the Crucible, but had no answer to Stevens in the latter stages as he won seven of the last 10 frames to take the match 13–11.

[17][21] Neil Robertson beat him 6–2 in the UK Championship and in the Masters he was 5–4 up against Judd Trump but missed two pots when well placed to win the match and instead went to lose 5–6, a result which left Hawkins "devastated".

[22] He bounced back at the next ranking event, the German Masters, by seeing off Dechawat Poomjaeng 5–2, Mark Allen 5–1 and Selby 5–1 to reach the semi-finals.

[17] He lost 4–6 to Marco Fu in a long match which finished after midnight local time and included a bout of safety which lasted almost an hour.

[17][24] At the World Championship, he put Jack Lisowski under sustained pressure with his superior safety game in a 10–3 win to face Selby]] in the second round.

Hawkins' turnaround from being a solid player to a ranking event winner and World Championship runner-up has been credited, in part, to his work with 1979 champion Terry Griffiths who has helped to give him the self-belief to make the most of his game.

[32][33] After a pair of second round exits in the opening two rankings events of the 2013–14 season, Hawkins levelled his quarter-final match against Selby at the Shanghai Masters with a 140 break and then won the deciding frame to progress.

[35] In a deciding frame against Shaun Murphy, Hawkins potted seven reds and seven blacks but had to make do with a break of 70 to take the match and reach the quarter-finals of the UK Championship for the first in his career.

However, Hawkins regrouped and made breaks of 66 and 65 to win the last two frames and move into the semi-finals, where he faced O'Sullivan in a rematch of the previous year's final.

[47] He was unable to build on his good start to the season however, as he could not advance beyond the last 32 of the next three ranking events and in the second round of the UK Championship he lost 6–5 to Nigel Bond after Hawkins had been 5–0 up.

[52] Hawkins produced a great comeback in the next round against Mark Allen by winning five frames in a row to triumph 13–11 and stated that the unique atmosphere of the Crucible Theatre helps him focus harder and is the reason for his recent good form in the event.

It was an extremely high quality encounter, during which both players made four centuries each to equal a World Championship record for a best of 25 frame match.

[54] Hawkins endured a tough semi-final as he fell 14–3 behind Shaun Murphy and only just avoided losing with a session to spare, as he returned to be defeated 17–9.

[58] In an event where he had never won a match in five prior appearances, Hawkins eliminated Joe Perry 6–3, Mark Allen 6–2 and Judd Trump 6–4[59] to set up a meeting with O'Sullivan in the final.

Hawkins took the opening frame, but would lose 10–1 to equal the record of the biggest margin of defeat in a Masters final set by Steve Davis' 9–0 whitewash over Mike Hallett in 1988.

[61] Hawkins met O'Sullivan in the second round of the World Championship, a player who he had not beat in 10 matches stretching back 14 years since their first meeting.

However, O'Sullivan quickly levelled the match at 12–12, but went in off during the deciding frame to allow Hawkins to be the only player to have reached the quarter-finals of the event for the past three years.

Hawkins said the change from his heavy defeat to O'Sullivan at the Masters in January to beating him was playing the balls instead of his opponent and that he was proud of having handled the most pressure he ever felt during his career.

Perry went on to win the three remaining frames, clinching the match and narrowly denying Hawkins a rematch against defending champion O'Sullivan.

[69] Hawkins beat Kyren Wilson 4–2, Judd Trump 4–1, Neil Robertson 4–2 and Liang Wenbo 6–1 to reach the final of the World Grand Prix.

[65] Victories over Tom Ford, Graeme Dott and Stephen Maguire saw Hawkins play in his fourth World Championship semi-final in five years, but he didn't capitalise on the chances that came his way against John Higgins and was eliminated 17–8.

[71] In December 2017, Hawkins advanced to the third round of the UK Championship after beating Kurt Dunham and Hammad Miah, but was knocked out by Akani Songsermsawad after suffering a 6–0 defeat.

[73] In March, Hawkins reached the final of the Welsh Open after beating the likes of Tom Ford, Martin Gould, Yan Bingtao and Noppon Saengkham.

[75] In May, Hawkins maintained his excellent record at the Crucible, after beating Stuart Carrington, Lyu Haotian and Ding Junhui, he reached another semi-final at the World Snooker Championship and faced Mark Williams.

[90] At the UK Championship, Hawkins advanced to the last 16 after beating the likes of Riley Parsons, Robbie Williams and Robert Milkins, but was knocked out of the tournament after losing 6–3 to Selby.

[101] Hawkins had a strong start to the season, reaching the final of the European Masters, which included a 5–3 win over Judd Trump in the quarter-finals, before an impressive 6–2 victory over Mark Williams in the semi-finals.

At the main event, Hawkins beat James Cahill, reigning world champion Luca Brecel, Noppon Saengkham and Selby to reach the final.