Pavlyuchenkova played one more tournament before the tour was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making the second round at the Dubai Tennis Championships after upsetting fourth seed and defending champion Belinda Bencic but there, she lost to Kontaveit. Returning to competition after the lifting of the suspension in August, at the Prague Open, a sixth-seeded Pavlyuchenkova dropped her opening match to Arantxa Rus. She then chose to skip the US Open due to safety concerns over the ongoing pandemic, which saw her streak of 48 consecutive Grand Slam tournament appearances, dating back to the 2008 French Open, come to an end.