He made a good start to the 2012–13 season, beating Tony Drago and Robert Milkins to qualify for the final stages of the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo; there he beat local wildcard James Mifsud 5–0, before exiting the tournament by the same scoreline against Ding Junhui.
At the 2013 Welsh Open, McManus reached his first quarter-final since the 2006 Grand Prix, with a 4–2 win over the number 16 seed Barry Hawkins, followed by a dramatic comeback to beat Joe Perry 4–3, after having trailed 0–3.
He was beaten in the quarter-final 3–5 by compatriot Stephen Maguire.
The following tournament, the Haikou World Open, saw McManus win three matches in qualifying to reach the latter stages of the tournament; he then beat local wildcard Lin Shuai 5–3, before facing compatriot John Higgins.
McManus put in a good performance; he ultimately lost 3–5, but picked up valuable ranking points in the process.

He made a good start to the Players Tour Championship, reaching the quarter-finals of the first event, losing to Andrew Higginson by 4 frames to 3.
He carried this good form to the PTC event 2, once again reaching the quarter-finals before losing 1–4 to eventual runner-up Stephen Maguire.
However, McManus only managed four last-32 results from the rest of the events.
This led to him being ranked 31st in the Order of Merit, just missing out on the top 28 players that qualified for the finals.
At the 2013 World Snooker Championship McManus, in qualifying, beat one of India's rising stars Aditya Mehta 10–9, in an epic encounter that lasted just over 9 hours.
He then defeated 1995 World finalist Nigel Bond 10–8 in the penultimate qualifying round.
In the final qualifying round he led Tom Ford 5–4 after the first session; he then reeled off five of the next six frames to book his place at the Crucible Theatre for the first time since 2006.
In the first round he lost to Ding Junhui 5–10, winning £12,000.
He made a good start to the 2012–13 season, beating Tony Drago and Robert Milkins to qualify for the final stages of the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo; there he beat local wildcard James Mifsud 5–0, before exiting the tournament by the same scoreline against Ding Junhui. At the 2013 Welsh Open, McManus reached his first quarter-final since the 2006 Grand Prix, with a 4–2 win over the number 16 seed Barry Hawkins, followed by a dramatic comeback to beat Joe Perry 4–3, after having trailed 0–3. He was beaten in the quarter-final 3–5 by compatriot Stephen Maguire. The following tournament, the Haikou World Open, saw McManus win three matches in qualifying to reach the latter stages of the tournament; he then beat local wildcard Lin Shuai 5–3, before facing compatriot John Higgins. McManus put in a good performance; he ultimately lost 3–5, but picked up valuable ranking points in the process.
He made a good start to the Players Tour Championship, reaching the quarter-finals of the first event, losing to Andrew Higginson by 4 frames to 3. He carried this good form to the PTC event 2, once again reaching the quarter-finals before losing 1–4 to eventual runner-up Stephen Maguire. However, McManus only managed four last-32 results from the rest of the events. This led to him being ranked 31st in the Order of Merit, just missing out on the top 28 players that qualified for the finals. At the 2013 World Snooker Championship McManus, in qualifying, beat one of India's rising stars Aditya Mehta 10–9, in an epic encounter that lasted just over 9 hours. He then defeated 1995 World finalist Nigel Bond 10–8 in the penultimate qualifying round. In the final qualifying round he led Tom Ford 5–4 after the first session; he then reeled off five of the next six frames to book his place at the Crucible Theatre for the first time since 2006. In the first round he lost to Ding Junhui 5–10, winning £12,000.
Alan McManus