Carol Zhao

Early life

Zhao was born in Beijing, China and started playing tennis at the age of five, with the encouragement of her grade school teacher. She relocated to Montreal to be part of the National Training Center from September 2010 to August 2013.

2010–11

In July 2010, Zhao won three straight junior singles tournaments at the G5 in Edmonton, G4 in Vancouver and G5 in Manitoba respectively. She also won three junior doubles tournaments around that time. She reached the semifinals in doubles of the GB1 in Tulsa in October. In November, Zhao played her first professional quarterfinals at the ITF $50,000 in Toronto.

In January 2011, Zhao reached the semifinals in doubles to back to back tournaments, the GA in Tlalnepantla and the G1 in San José. In March, she lost to Ashleigh Barty in the final of the G1 in Kuching. Zhao reached in June the second round of the French Open, her first junior Grand Slam. She lost in the first round of the junior US Open in September.

2012

In January 2012, Zhao lost in the second round in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles at the junior Australian Open. In March, she made the final in both singles and doubles of the G1 in Nonthaburi, but only won the doubles title. She lost a week later to Elizaveta Kulichkova in the final of the G1 in Sarawak. Zhao reached the second round for the second straight year at the junior French Open. In late June, Zhao reached her third G1 final of the year, but lost this time to fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in three sets. Three of the four semifinalists were Canadian at this tournament (the third was Françoise Abanda). Despite this result, she lost in the first round of the junior Wimbledon.

In September Zhao lost in an all-Canadian final at the G1 in Repentigny to Françoise Abanda. A week later, she made it to the third round in singles at the junior US Open. She also reached the quarterfinals in doubles. In mid-September, Zhao reached the quarterfinals in doubles of the WTA tournament in Quebec City. In October, she lost in the final of the GB1 in Tulsa, but won in doubles.

2013

Zhao lost in the second round of the junior Australian Open in singles, but won the doubles title with Ana Konjuh by defeating Oleksandra Korashvili and Barbora Krejčíková in the final. In May, she made it to her first professional doubles final at the ITF $10,000 in Santa Margherita di Pula, but lost to Italians Martina Caregaro and Anna Floris. She also reached her first singles final at the same tournament, but was defeated this time by Sofiya Kovalets. At the junior event of the French Open, Zhao reached the third round in singles and made it to the semifinals in doubles. She also reached the third round at the junior Wimbledon in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles.

Zhao won in July the doubles title at the ITF $25,000 in Granby, her first pro title. At the beginning of August, she qualified for her first WTA main draw at the Premier 5 Rogers Cup in Toronto when she defeated her first Top 100 player Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets in last round of qualifying. She was eliminated by No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round. She made it to the quarterfinals in doubles for the second straight year at the Challenge Bell in mid-September.

2014

In July at the ITF $25,000 in Gatineau, her first tournament in nine months, Zhao made it to the semifinals in doubles. She made it a week later, with Erin Routliffe, to her third professional doubles final and second consecutive at the ITF $25,000 in Granby but had to withdraw before the final because of an injury. At the Bank of the West Classic at the end of July, Zhao qualified for her second WTA main draw and scored her first win on the Tour when Yanina Wickmayer retired in the second set of the opening round. She was eliminated by No. 11 Ana Ivanovic in the second round. In late August, Zhao reached the quarterfinals in singles and the semifinals in doubles of the ITF 25K in Winnipeg.

2015

In late June, Zhao made it to the semifinals in singles and in doubles of the ITF $25,000 in Sumter. The next week, she reached the quarterfinals at the ITF 25K in Baton Rouge. At the Pan American Games in July, Zhao won a gold medal with Gabriela Dabrowski in the doubles event. In August at the ITF 25K in Gatineau, she reached the semifinals in singles and won the doubles title with Jessica Moore. A week later, she was awarded a wildcard for the main draw of the Bank of the West Classic but was defeated by No. 63 Mona Barthel in the opening round. At the Rogers Cup in August, Zhao earned a wildcard for the singles main draw but was defeated by No. 43 Madison Brengle in the first round. She also reached the quarterfinals in doubles with fellow Canadian Sharon Fichman. In October, she reached the quarterfinals in singles at the Challenger Banque Nationale de Saguenay and the semifinals in both singles and doubles at the Tevlin Women's Challenger.

2016

In January, Zhao reached the final of the ITF 25K in Daytona Beach with compatriot Sharon Fichman. In February, she and partner Jessica Pegula were runners-up at the ITF 25K in Rancho Santa Fe. At the ITF 25K in Sumter in June, her first tournament as a professional, Zhao reached the final in doubles. She also reached the doubles final of the ITF $25,000 in El Paso at the beginning of July. At the Bank of the West Classic, Zhao was awarded a wildcard for the singles main draw for the second straight year, but was defeated by No. 71 Nicole Gibbs in three sets in the opening round. She also lost in the first round in doubles.

2017

In January at the ITF 15K in Petit-Bourg, Zhao won her third doubles title, this time with Mayo Hibi. She advanced to the doubles final of the ITF 15K in Heraklion with compatriot Charlotte Robillard-Millette in March. Two weeks later, she won the third ITF 15K in Heraklion, which was the fourth doubles title of her career title and her first with Robillard-Millette. In July, she won her biggest doubles title to date with Ellen Perez at the ITF 60K in Granby. In August at the ITF 100K in Vancouver, Zhao advanced to the semifinals where she was defeated by Danka Kovinić. The next week at the ITF 25K in Tsukuba, she reached the second singles final of her career but lost to Zhang Ling. The week after, Zhao captured her first singles title with a win over Junri Namigata at the ITF 25K in Nanao.

Record against top-100 players

Zhao's win-loss record (5–10, 33%) against players who were ranked world No. 100 or higher when played is as follows:
Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.