reached the round of 16 at the US Open for the second straight year, losing to Anastasija Sevastova in three sets. Svitolina's struggles with form continued into the Asian swing, with back-to-back opening round losses to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in Wuhan, and Aleksandra Krunić in Beijing, despite opening up a 6–0, 3–0 lead in the latter match. A quarterfinal defeat in Hong Kong to in-form Wang Qiang, coupled with Svitolina's decision not to play in the final week of the year at either Moscow or Luxembourg City, meant that qualification for the WTA Finals in Singapore would rest on the performances of Karolína Plíšková and Kiki Bertens in Moscow. Plíšková's defeat in the second round ensured that Svitolina would qualify for Singapore for the second successive year. As the sixth seed, she was drawn into the White Group, alongside defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, and Czechs Plíšková and Petra Kvitová. She won all three of her round-robin matches, first snapping a seven-match losing streak against Kvitová, defeating her in straight sets. She then defeated both Plíšková and Wozniacki in three sets to secure her place in the semifinals alongside Plíšková. She defeated Kiki Bertens in three sets, and in the final, she came from a set down to beat Sloane Stephens, winning the biggest title of her career. Svitolina ended the year as the world No. 4. 2019: Two major semifinals Svitolina opened the season with an unsuccessful title defense in Brisbane; she lost her first match to the previous year's finalist, Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Seeded sixth at the Australian Open, she defeated qualifier Viktorija Golubic, Viktória Kužmová, Zhang Shuai, and 17th seed Madison Keys to make her second consecutive quarterfinal at the Australian Open. She was, however, afflicted by a neck and shoulder injury and was defeated by fourth seed and eventual champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets. Svitolina then reached back-to-back semifinals in Doha, losing with the lead in the final set against Simona Halep, and Dubai, where she was the two-time defending champion, losing in a third-set tiebreak to eventual champion Belinda Bencic. Svitolina reached her third consecutive semifinal of the year at Indian Wells. In her first Premier Mandatory semifinal since 2016, she lost in three sets to 18-year-old wildcard and eventual champion Bianca Andreescu. The next week at the Miami Open, she suffered a surprise defeat in her opening match against Wang Yafan. Svitolina later revealed