her first Premier-level title. Seeded seventh at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Vinci lost in the first round to qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova, 0–6, 6–4, 3–6. Despite losing in the first round to Shvedova, Vinci rose to a career-high ranking of 10 as neither Lucie Šafářová nor Venus Williams defended their ranking points from the previous year, she became the oldest female tennis player to make her top-10 singles debut, four days after her 33rd birthday. Seeded 9th at the Qatar Total Open, Vinci defeated Lesia Tsurenko, Daria Kasatkina, and wildcard Çağla Büyükakçay to reach the quarterfinals. There, she lost to 3rd seed Agnieszka Radwańska, 6–3, 2–6, 3–6. As the top seed at the Malaysian Open, Vinci suffered a shock loss in the first round to world No. 153, Chang Kai-chen, 7–5, 2–6, 1–6. As the ninth seed at the Indian Wells Open, Vinci received a bye into the second round and faced Margarita Gasparyan. Vinci came through in a three-set thriller, 6–3, 6–7, 7–6. Vinci had to save two match points in order to defeat Gasparyan in the second round. She then won comfortably against 17th seed Elina Svitolina in the third round 6–1, 6–3. In the fourth round, she was forced to retire trailing 2–6, 0–2 to Magdaléna Rybáriková. Seeded ninth at the Miami Open, Vinci received a bye into the second round where she beat Lucie Hradecká, 1–6, 6–4, 7–6. In the third round, Vinci was defeated by 22nd seed Madison Keys, 6–4, 6–4. At the 2016 Fed Cup World Group Play-offs, Vinci represented Italy in their tie against Spain. Vinci lost both of her rubbers to Carla Suárez Navarro and Garbiñe Muguruza. Spain defeated Italy 4–0. Vinci began her clay court season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Seeded sixth, Vinci reached the quarterfinals beating Ekaterina Makarova and German wildcard Julia Görges. In the quarterfinals, she lost to German qualifier and eventual finalist Laura Siegemund 1–6, 4–6. Seeded 7th at the Madrid Open, Vinci lost in the first round to world No. 52, Danka Kovinić, 4–6, 2–6. Seeded seventh and given a first-round bye at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Vinci was defeated in the second round by world No. 23, Johanna Konta, 6–0, 6–4. Vinci's final tournament before the French Open was the Nürnberger Versicherungscup. As the top seed, she lost in the second round to qualifier and eventual champion, Kiki Bertens, 4–6, 6–7. Seeded seventh at the