Hunter won his first ranking event at the 1998 Welsh Open. He defeated Paul Wykes 5–3, Neal Foulds 5–2, Steve Davis 5–3, Nigel Bond 5–4, Alan McManus 5–3 and Peter Ebdon 6–1, before John Higgins 9–5 in the final. During the final, Hunter trailed 2-4 but won seven frames from the next eight to win the match. Following the event, he reached the semi-finals of the 1998 UK Championship. At the end of the year, he was named the Snooker Writers Association's "young player of the year".