to Michigan for the inaugural Chicago Open as the top seed, where she won her 16th WTA title after defeating Alizé Cornet in the final match, in straight sets. Regarding her decision to play in Chicago, Svitolina said, "I came here to get some confidence, play some good matches, and in the end it happened like that. I’m looking forward to New York." In New York, at the year's US Open, fifth-seeded Svitolina began her campaign with straight-set wins over Rebecca Marino and Rebeka Masarova in the first and second round, respectively. She followed those victories with two additional straight-set wins over 25th seed Daria Kasatkina and 12th seed Simona Halep to reach her second US Open quarterfinal. But in the quarterfinals, Svitolina was toppled by unseeded 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez in a thriller three-setter that saw Svitolina take the second set and come back from three games down in the decider to take the set to a tiebreak. Svitolina ultimately became the third of four seeded players that Fernandez defeated while on her winning streak to reach her first Grand Slam final. A few weeks later, in a bid to replicate the success she experienced in Chicago just a few weeks prior, Svitolina entered into the inaugural Chicago Fall Tennis Classic as the top seed, but she lost to sixth seed and eventual finalist Ons Jabeur in straight sets in the quarterfinals. The loss was her first to Jabeur in their four encounters. At Indian Wells, the defending semifinalist entered as the fourth seed and fought off Sorana Cîrstea in the third round in a three-set match, where she was down by a break in the deciding set, before she was swiftly ousted by Pegula in the fourth round in a straight-set breadstick defeat. Following the loss, she explained to the press that she had been suffering from a muscle strain in her right leg during the tournament, which prevented her from practicing regularly and severely hampered her movement during her final match. Her season-end struggles continued after a first-round defeat by Camila Osorio at the Tenerife Ladies Open, despite being the top seed. For the first time in four years, she ended the year outside of the top 10, ranked at No. 15. 2022: Hiatus On 31 March 2022 Svitolina announced that she was taking a temporary break from competition. The reason given were health problems, including back pain