In 2009, Grace took part in the men's singles snooker competition at the World Games in Kaohsiung, finishing as the runner-up in this event, winning the silver medal.

[4] There he beat Daniel Wells, Barry Pinches and Matthew Selt, before losing 4–5 to Tom Ford in the final round.

[6] Grace ended the season ranked world number 77 and would ordinarily be relegated from the snooker tour as he did not finish in the top 64 who retain their places.

[11] Grace went one better than last season in the qualifying rounds of the 2013 Shanghai Masters by winning four matches, concluding with a 5–2 victory over Tom Ford, to reach the main stage of a ranking event for the first time in his career where he was whitewashed 5–0 by Barry Hawkins.

[14] Grace qualified for the first ranking event of the 2014–15 season, the Wuxi Classic by beating Jimmy Robertson 5–4, but he lost 5–1 to Judd Trump.

[19] At the UK Championship, Grace defeated Andrew Higginson 6–1, Robert Milkins 6–2, Jack Lisowski 6–4 and Peter Ebdon 6–2 to reach the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career.

[19] However, Grace could only win two out of nine matches during the rest of the season which included making his debut at the World Grand Prix (lost 4–2 to Mark Allen in the first round).

[23] At the Paul Hunter Classic, Grace beat Sean O'Sullivan 4–0 and Matthew Stevens 4–3 and then did not drop a frame in eliminating Jack Lisowski and Robbie Williams.

[24] Grace then qualified for his first World Championship by overcoming Thor Chuan Leong 10–6, Mark Joyce 10–6 and Akani Songsermsawad 10–3 and played Kyren Wilson in the first round.