Pavlyuchenkova suffered an early exit at the Pan Pacific Open in the hands of Vania King but rebounded well to reach the quarterfinals of the China Open. There, she lost to ninth seed Andrea Petkovic in straight sets. At the Generali Ladies Linz, she beat Anabel Medina Garrigues before falling to qualifier Sorana Cîrstea in the second round. In Luxembourg, Pavlyuchenkova suffered a shocking loss to Rebecca Marino in the first round. In the Fed Cup final, the Russian team faced the Czech Republic. Despite winning her only singles rubber against Lucie Šafářová in straight sets, the Russian team came up short in the end when they lost the decisive doubles match. Pavlyuchenkova ended 2011 at world No. 16, her first ever top-20 finish to a season.