However, Mark Williams subsequently won the 2023 British Open at age 48, making Perry the third-oldest ranking event winner.

He first reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 2004, beating then defending champion Mark Williams 13–11 along the way, also making the tournament's highest break of 145 (which remains Perry's best in competition, only equaled in the Northern Ireland Open 2023), before losing to Matthew Stevens.

[6] He repeated this run in 2008 when he defeated Graeme Dott and Stuart Bingham, and bettered it by going on to beat Stephen Maguire 13–12 and earn his place in the semi-finals, which he narrowly lost to Ali Carter.

The 2004 defeat was especially notable as Perry had led 8–7 and potted a colour to leave his opponent, David Gray, requiring a snooker – however, Perry's pot had also left him snookered on the final red, which he failed to hit, allowing Gray to clear the table and ultimately win the deciding frame with a total clearance of 139.

This run left Perry provisionally fifth in the world, but he failed to win a match in the remaining five tournaments and dropped to 14th at the end of the season as a result.

In the new year, he suffered a narrow 5–6 loss to O'Sullivan in the Masters; the rest of the season was unspectacular as he failed to win a match in a ranking event.

In the World Championship he beat Michael Holt in the first round 10–4, and trailed Ali Carter 6–10 before winning five frames in a row to lead 11–10 but lost 11–13.

[9] It was at the Finals where Perry had his best run in a ranking event during the 2011–12 season as he beat Fergal O'Brien and Graeme Dott, before being defeated by Neil Robertson 1–4 in the quarter-finals.

[13] He won two more matches in ranking events during the rest of the season, the first being a 4–0 triumph over world number one Mark Selby in the first round of the Welsh Open.

[24] Perry's good play continued into 2014 as he advanced to the quarter-finals of the German Masters with the loss of just three frames, but he then lost 2–5 to Ding Junhui.

[22] He secured an impressive 5–1 win over Selby in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, stating that his newfound casual approach to the game was a key reason for his successful season.

[27] Perry started the better of the two as he established a 5–3 lead after the opening session and maintained his two-frame advantage after the second, although he missed a chance in the final frame to be 10–6 ahead.

[28] He went on to lead 11–9, before O'Sullivan leveled the match and then made back-to-back century breaks to win 13–11, with Perry remarking afterwards that he had been "blown away by a genius" in the last few frames.

[37] However, less than a week later, Perry won the Xuzhou Open by beating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4–1 in the final to claim his second Asian Tour title in as many years.

He defeated Ding Junhui 4–1, Anthony McGill 4–3 from 1–3 down, and Michael Holt and Stuart Bingham 4–1 each to reach his third major ranking final and second of the season.

[34] He recovered from 0–3 down against Mark Williams to win 4–3 and claim the first major title of his 23-year playing career, in addition to his highest prize earning of £100,000 and a place inside the world's top ten.

[39] A pair of 5–3 wins over Jamie Burnett and Robert Milkins helped Perry to the quarter-finals of the 2015 Australian Goldfields Open, where he was on the wrong end of a 5–3 scoreline against John Higgins.

[42] In the semi-finals he lost 6–4 to Neil Robertson.Robertson|Check Details After losing 3–6 to Robbie Williams in the second round of the 2015 UK Championship, Perry called his opponent's style and speed of play "a joke".

[43] At the Welsh Open he beat Judd Trump 4–3 in the fourth round and Ben Woollaston 5–1 in the quarter-finals to meet Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals.

[44] A second major event semi-final soon followed at the World Grand Prix as he conceded just two frames in eliminating Barry Hawkins (Perry's 133 won him the high break prize), Kyren Wilson and Ali Carter.

The tie went to a deciding frame in which Perry was 50 points down, but he stepped in to make a break of 70 and reach the final of a Triple Crown tournament for the first time.