As the fifth seed, Schiavone reached the semifinals of the Pan Pacific Open, where she fell to seventh seed Elena Dementieva. At the season-ending Tour Championships, Schiavone competed for the first time in her career but was eliminated in the round-robin stage. She fell to Caroline Wozniacki in three sets, and Sam Stosur in two sets before defeating Elena Dementieva in what would be Dementieva's final career match. 2011 Schiavone began the year at the Hopman Cup representing Italy. In singles, she defeated Laura Robson, but fell to Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Schiavone retired with an injury against Kristina Mladenovic. Seeded sixth at the Australian Open, Schiavone advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in her career upon a victory over 23rd-seeded and two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The fourth-round encounter lasted nearly five hours (4:44; 47 games in total), and Schiavone saved six match points before finally prevailing 6–4, 1–6, 16–14. With this win, Schiavone rose in the rankings to world No. 4 after the tournament, the highest ranking ever achieved by an Italian woman, improving her own record. In the quarterfinal against world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, Schiavone was a set and 3–1 up in the second set, but was broken twice by Wozniacki in the same set and twice in the third, to lose 6–3, 3–6, 3–6 after saving three match points. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Schiavone was seeded third, but fell in the round of 16 to Kuznetsova. At the Qatar Open in Doha, she fell to Peng Shuai in the round of 16. She then fell to eventual champion Jelena Dokic at the Malaysian Open. Schiavone then reached the round of 16 again at the Indian Wells Open, falling to Shahar Pe'er. Seeded fifth at the Miami Open, she reached the round of 16, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. Schiavone began her clay-court season with a round of 16 loss to Radwańska at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She then reached the round of 16 at the Madrid Open, falling to Mattek-Sands. Following Madrid, Schiavone reached the quarterfinals of the Italian Open, losing to world No. 7, Sam Stosur, in a rematch of the 2010 French Open final. She then lost to world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in three sets during the semifinals of the Brussels Open, the last tournament before the French Open. Schiavone was the fifth seed and defending champion at the French