At the Malaysian Open, Pavlyuchenkova was the only seed to reach the last four but there, she was upset by wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands. This was then followed by winless appearances in Indian Wells and Miami. At the Monterrey Open, she saw off Nina Bratchikova, Tereza Mrdeža to reach the quarterfinals. She then went on to beat Lauren Davis and Monica Niculescu to reach the final where she stunned top seed Kerber in three sets for her third title in Monterrey, also her fourth career title overall and her first since defending her title here in 2011. She climbed back into the top 20 rankings after Monterrey. In the Fed Cup semifinals against Slovakia, she lost her singles match to Dominika Cibulková but Russia nevertheless advanced to the final by winning the decisive doubles rubber.