Slam final in the Open Era. By virtue of her run to the final in New York, Vinci returned to the top 20 for the first time since June 2014. Seeded 15th at the Wuhan Open, Vinci defeated qualifier Danka Kovinić and Irina-Camelia Begu in the first two rounds. In the third round, she stunned third seed and defending champion, Petra Kvitová, 7–6, 6–2. She then defeated eighth seed Karolína Plíšková, 7–6, 6–3 to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Vinci lost to eventual champion Venus Williams 7–5, 2–6, 6–7. In this match, Vinci had a 6–5 lead in the third set and even had one match point before Venus came back and won the match. Seeded 15th at the China Open, Vinci lost in the third round to qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 1–6, 6–3, 2–6. Seeded third at the Linz Open, she was defeated in the first round by qualifier Aleksandra Krunić, 6–1, 6–7, 6–1. Vinci's final tournament of the year was the first edition of the WTA Elite Trophy. Seeded fourth, Vinci beat 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in her first rubber, 6–4, 6–4. In her second rubber, she lost to Alternate Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 1–6, 0–6. Having a 1–1 record in Group D, Vinci reached the semifinals losing to top-seed and eventual champion Venus Williams 2–6, 2–6. Vinci ended the year ranked 15. 2016: First title since 2013, top-10 debut Vinci started her season at the Brisbane International. Seeded eighth, she started the tournament by defeating Jelena Janković in the first round, 3–6, 6–2, 6–4. She then dominated Dominika Cibulková in their second round match 6–1, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, she lost to former world No. 1, two-time Australian Open champion, and eventual champion, Victoria Azarenka, 1–6, 2–6. After Brisbane, she competed at Sydney where she lost in the first round to Samantha Stosur. As the 13th seed at the Australian Open, Vinci reached the third round after beating qualifier Tamira Paszek and world No. 74, Irina Falconi. In the third round, she suffered a shock loss to world No. 82, Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6–0, 4–6, 4–6. After the Australian Open, Vinci played at the inaugural St. Petersburg Trophy. Seeded second, she reached the final defeating Yanina Wickmayer, Tímea Babos, and fourth seed Ana Ivanovic. In the final, Vinci beat top seed Belinda Bencic, 6–4, 6–3. This was Vinci's tenth career WTA singles title, her first since 2013, and