Playing with a new cue, Higgins began the 2013–14 season strongly, winning the minor-ranking Bulgarian Open with a 4–1 victory over Neil Robertson in the final, having beaten Shaun Murphy and Ronnie O'Sullivan earlier in the event. This win allowed him briefly to regain his top-10 ranking. He reached the final of the season's first major ranking event, the Wuxi Classic, which he lost 7–10 to Robertson. His form then deteriorated again and he suffered early defeats at a number of minor-ranking events, including a 0–4 loss to Mark King in the last 128 of the Paul Hunter Classic. He changed his cue again before defending his Shanghai Masters title, but lost 1–5 to Mark Davis in the last 16. His Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup title defence ended when he was whitewashed 0–4 by Andrew Higginson in the last 128. He lost 2–4 to Ding Junhui in the last 16 of the 2013 Indian Open, and lost 2–6 to Matthew Stevens in the last 32 of the 2013 International Championship. In the invitational Champion of Champions tournament, he lost 3–4 in the first round to Stephen Maguire.