Seeded twenty-fifth at the French Open, Kanepi suffered a first-round loss at the hands of Monica Niculescu. Kanepi began her grass-court season at the Topshelf Open. She was defeated in the first round by Yvonne Meusburger. At the Wimbledon Championships, Kanepi upset seventh seed Jelena Janković in the first round. She lost in the second round to Yaroslava Shvedova. After failing to defend quarterfinal points, she fell out of the top 50. As the top seed at the Lorraine Open 88, Kanepi advanced to the final where she was defeated by fifth seed Irina-Camelia Begu. Kanepi, as the top seed, won her ninth ITF title at the Open GDF Suez de Biarritz beating second seed Teliana Pereira in the final. At the Swedish Open, Kanepi lost in her quarterfinal match to eventual champion Mona Barthel. Kanepi played one tournament before the US Open which was the Connecticut Open. She fell in the final round of qualifying to Sílvia Soler Espinosa. At the US Open, Kanepi reached the fourth round after victories over Pauline Parmentier, twenty-fourth seed and 2011 champion Sam Stosur, and fifteenth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. She lost in the fourth round to top seed, two-time defending champion, and eventual champion Serena Williams. Seeded sixth at the Korea Open, Kanepi was defeated in her quarterfinal match by Maria Kirilenko. In Beijing at the China Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to fourth seed and eventual champion Maria Sharapova. Kanepi's last tournament of the year was at the Generali Ladies Linz. She was defeated in the first round by Magdaléna Rybáriková. Kanepi ended the year ranked 52. Kanepi began her season at the Brisbane International. She reached the quarterfinal where she lost to second seed and eventual finalist Ana Ivanovic. After Brisbane, Kanepi competed at the Hobart International. She defeated Monica Puig in her first-round match. She then withdrew from her second round match against Camila Giorgi due to a viral illness. Ranked forty-eight at the Australian Open, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by Irina Falconi.