Zhang Shuai (tennis)

Career

Zhang, born in Tianjin, started playing tennis at the age of six, when her parents took her to a local tennis club.

She turned professional in 2003 and played her first singles event in Mollerusa in August of that year. After defeating Matilde Munoz-Gonzalves in the first qualifying round (7–5, 7–5), she lost to Laura Figuerola-Foix in the second qualifying round (6–7(5), 4–6). After a full year on the ITF circuit, Zhang finished 2004 with a year-end ranking of 901st.

She enjoyed considerable success in singles on the ITF circuit, having won one $50,000 event, eight $25,000 tournaments and three $10,000 events between 2006 and 2009. As of October 2009, however, she had won only two main draw tournaments on the WTA circuit. Her peak ranking is World No. 23, achieved in 2016. She won her first WTA singles title at the 2013 Guangzhou International Women's Open as a wildcard entrant.

2012

Zhang started her year at the Blossom Cup in Quanzhou. She defeated Nudnida Luangnam and Anna Floris in the first and second rounds respectively, before falling to Tímea Babos in the quarterfinals. Her next tournament was the Australian Open where she received a wildcard. She was beaten by Aleksandra Wozniak in the first round in straight sets. This marked her seventh first round loss in a major tournament.

At the Monterrey Open, she lost to Gréta Arn in the first round. Next Zhang went to Indian Wells to play at the BNP Paribas Open where she was a qualifier. She lost to Simona Halep in the first round. At the 2012 French Open, Zhang lost in the first round to Angelique Kerber.

2013: First WTA title

Started the year as the top-seed at the ITF Women's Circuit tournament Innisbrook Women's Open in Florida on clay with a first round lost to 468th ranked wildcard Asia Muhammad. Skipping the Australian Open and remaining in Florida for another ITF Women's Circuit clay court tournament, the $25K Tesoro Women's Open in Port St. Lucie losing to 214th rank and 4th seed Tadeja Majerič in the semifinal. In doubles, she and partner Sharon Fichman were seeded 2nd and lost in the quarterfinal to the eventual winners, qualifiers Angelina Gabueva & Allie Will. Zhang entered three WTA tournaments and played doubles with Janette Husárová: as the 3rd seed in the qualifying draw, lost to 647th ranked Abigail Spears in the 1st round of the qualifier in the Qatar Total Open in Doha and lost to Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur in 2nd round.; lost to 61st ranked Anabel Medina Garrigues in the 2nd round of qualifting in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships] and lost to Julia Görges & Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the 1st round. and lost to 23rd and 2nd seeded Hsieh Su-wei in the 2nd round in the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and lost to 2nd seeded team of Shuko Aoyama & Chang Kai-chen in an exciting final. Returning stateside losing to 131st ranked wild-card Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the qualifying final of the Sony Open Tennis in Miami Teaming up with Megan Moulton-Levy, lost in the 2nd round to 3rd seeded Nadia Petrova & Katarina Srebotnik. Lost to Petra Rampre (#282) in the 1st qualifying round as the 7th seed in the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Zhang & Moulton-Levy lost in the semifinal to the top-seeded team of Andrea Hlaváčková & Liezel Huber. Playing as the 5th seed in the ITF's Legacy Credit Union Women's 25k Pro Circuit Challenger in Pelham, Alabama, she lost to the 197th ranked Ashleigh Barty in the second round. Playing in her first final as the 8th seed at the Dothan Pro Tennis Classic, lost to Ajla Tomljanović (#171). As the 7th seed in the Boyd Tinsley Clay Court Classic in Charlottesville, Virginia, she lost to 381st ranked wildcard Allie Will in the 1st round.

Entered the doubles tournament in the Mutua Madrid Open in Madrid with Zheng Jie as the 7th seeded team and lost in the first round to Kristina Mladenovic & Galina Voskoboeva. In Rome, she lost to the 5th seeded Madison Keys (#60) at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in the 1st qualifying round. Again partnering with Zheng, the 8th seeded team lost to Dominika Cibulková & Monica Niculescu in the opening round. Entered the qualifying draw for the Brussels Open qualifying for the main draw. Lost in the 2nd round to the 4th seeded (#17) Sloane Stephens. Entered the French Open doubles with Zheng as the 13th seeds losing to the 2nd seeded team of Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in the 3rd round. Also entered the mixed doubles tournament with Julian Knowle losing in the 2nd round to the 5th seeded team of Kristina Mladenovic & Daniel Nestor. Played in the National Games of China in Dalian with team members Duan Yingying, Peng Shuai and Zheng Saisai representing Tianjin in the team competition winning the gold medal over Team Shanghai. Entered Wimbledon doubles with Moulton-Levy losing to the 12th seeded team of Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellacqua in the 2nd round. Entered the mixed doubles tournament once again with Knowle losing in the 1st round to Barty & John Peers. Entered the Beijing International Challenger as the third seed. Made her second final of the year beating the top seed Misaki Doi. In the final, defeated the 4th seeded Zhou Yimiao winning her first title since 31 May 2010, at the Infond Open in Maribor, Slovenia. Played in the National Games of China in Dalian for the individual finals on 22–30 July. Playing as the 3rd seed, lost in the 2nd round (after receiving a bye) to 728th ranked Zhang Kailin from Hubei. Played in the doubles tournament as the top seed with Peng, won the gold medal in the final in a walkover when the second team from Tianjin, Xu Yifan and Zheng Saisai withdrew because Zheng's injury from her semifinal singles match.

Entered the Caoxijiu Suzhou Ladies Open as the fourth seed. Lost to the unranked Zheng Saisai (#195) in the quarterfinal round. Entered the Western & Southern Open doubles event in Mason, Ohio with Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania losing in the first round to Vera Dushevina and Sílvia Soler Espinosa. Entered the Qualifying event at New Haven Open at Yale. After beating the 12th seeded Johanna Larsson (#68) in the first round, she lost to eventual qualifier Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (#107) in the second round. Entered the Qualifying Event for the US Open, seeded fifth, defeated France's Julie Coin in the first round, lost to CoCo Vandeweghe (#192) in second round. Entered the doubles tournament with Yaroslava Shvedova losing to Alla Kudryavtseva & Anastasia Rodionova in the first round. Entered the ITF Women's Circuit – Sanya in China as the second seed. Lost to Zheng Saisai in straight sets in the first round. Entered the Guangzhou International Women's Open as a wild card. Winning her first WTA singles title over qualifier Vania King (#124). Also entered the doubles tournament with Shvedova losing in the first round to the 4th seeded team of Tímea Babos & Olga Govortsova. Entered the Ningbo International Women's Tennis Open, losing in the final round to the top seeded Bojana Jovanovski (#41). Entered the doubles competition with Chan Yung-jan winning the title over the 4th seeded team of Irina Buryachok & Oksana Kalashnikova. Entered the China Open in Beijing as wild card losing to tenth seed Roberta Vinci (#12) in three sets in the second round. Received a wild card in the doubles tournament with Shvedova losing to Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie in the first round in three sets.

She played in the HP Open in Osaka losing to the 6th seed Madison Keys (#39) in the second round. Entered the doubles tournament with Samantha Stosur losing in straight sets to the second seeded team of Kristina Mladenovic & Flavia Pennetta in final. Entered the Nanjing Ladies Open as the 3rd seed winning her third title of the year beating the 4th seed Ayumi Morita (#63) in match shortened by retirement after one set. Also reached the final in doubles with Shvedova as the top-seeded team losing to the team of Misaki Doi & Xu Yifan in straight sets. Reached #51 as a career high in singles on 4 November 2013. Entered the OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open in Taiwan indoors on carpet as the 3rd seed. Lost in the first round to Katarzyna Piter (#122) retired after first game in the second set being down a set. Played in the doubles competition with Kimiko Date-Krumm as the top-seeded team lost to the team of Misaki Doi & Hsieh Shu-ying in the first round in three sets.

2014

Zhang started the 2014 season in the Shenzhen Open as the sixth seed losing to Chan Yung-jan in the first round. Also played in the doubles tournament with Zheng Saisai as the top seeds losing in the quarterfinal round to Monica Niculescu & Klára Zakopalová. Next in the Hobart International, in lost to the seventh seeded Zakopalová in the second round. Reached the doubles final with Lisa Raymond as the seeded second team losing again to Niculescu & Zakopalová in a match decided in the super tie-break. Zhang's winless streak in the Grand Slams reached nine as she had a disappointing opening round loss to Mona Barthel in the Australian Open.

She also lost in first round with Kimiko Date-Krumm in doubles against the seventh seeded team of Andrea Hlaváčková & Lucie Šafářová. She suffered another first round lost to the wild card and the second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the PTT Pattaya Open. After being three games from losing the doubles finals in the second, she and partner Peng Shuai as the fourth-seeded team rallied back to defeat the third-seeded team of Kudryavtseva & Rodionova in a thrilling match decided by a super tie-break. In early February, Zhang competed in the Fed Cup for China in Astana, Kazakhstan. Partnering with Fangzhou Liu, lost the deciding doubles match against Uzbekistan's Nigina Abduraimova & Sabina Sharipova in the first round robin match. Teamed with Peng Shuai in a straight set victory against South Korea's team of Han Na-lae & Yoo Mi in the second match. In the third round, beat Chinese Taipei's Ting-fei Juan in second singles rubber and teamed with Wang Qiang to defeat the team of Juan & Lee Ya-hsuan. Later in the same month, Zhang lost to qualifier Petra Cetkovská in the second round in the Qatar Total Open. In the doubles competition with Lisa Raymond lost in straight sets to the top-seeded team of Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci in the second round. She failed to qualify for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Playing as the eighth seed, lost to Karolína Plíšková in the second qualifier. Partnering with Lisa Raymond, lost in the second round of the doubles tournament against Andrea Hlaváčková & Lucie Šafářová. At the Abierto Mexicano Telcel as the eighth seed, she reached the semifinal round only to retire because of her shoulder to top-seeded Dominika Cibulková after six games. With Chuang Chia-jung in doubles, lost to the second seeds Kristina Mladenovic & Galina Voskoboeva in the quarterfinal round. At the Indian Wells Masters lost to Mladenovic in the first round, and withdrew from the doubles competition because of her shoulder injury. At the Miami Masters she suffered another first round lost against Lauren Davis. Zhang withdrew from The Oaks Club Challenger with a shoulder injury.

Zhang began her clay court season at the Family Circle Cup as the sixteenth seed losing to Ajla Tomljanović in the second round. Reached the semifinal round at the BMW Malaysian Open as the second seed losing to the seventh seed and eventual winner Donna Vekić. As the seventh seed, lost to Polona Hercog in the first round at the Marrakech Grand Prix. At the Portugal Open lost to seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round. and reached the quarterfinal round with Sílvia Soler Espinosa losing to the top seeded team of Cara Black & Sania Mirza the doubles competition. Another first round lost came at the Mutua Madrid Open against wild card Irina-Camelia Begu. Partnering with Janette Husárová in doubles lost to the eighth seeded team of ulia Görges and Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round. Defeated Petra Kvitová in the second round of the Italian Open in three exciting sets. In her win, she reached 300 victories and her second Top 10 victory. Lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinal. Entered the doubles with Monica Niculescu withdrawing with a shoulder injury against Casey Dellacqua & Klaudia Jans-Ignacik in the second round. Withdrew from the Internationaux de Strasbourg. Her winless streak in the Grand Slams reached ten as she lost to third seed Agnieszka Radwańska at the Roland Garros in two sets. She entered the doubles with Ajla Tomljanović losing to Gabriela Dabrowski & Alicja Rosolska in the first round.

Zhang began her grass season at the Aegon Classic as the ninth seed, losing to the top seed and eventual champion Ana Ivanovic in the semifinal. Played in the doubles competition with Caroline Garcia losing to the second seeded team of Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellacqua in the semifinal round. Lost at the Eastbourne International to Varvara Lepchenko in the first round. Suffered another first round in a Grand Slam event. The streak reached eleven as she lost at Wimbledon against fifteenth seed Carla Suárez Navarro in straight sets. Partnering with Yanina Wickmayer in doubles, lost the eleventh-seeded team of Alla Kudryavtseva & Anastasia Rodionova in the first round. Entered the mixed doubles with Nicholas Monroe losing to the thirteenth-seeded team of Bruno Soares & Martina Hingis in the second round.

She was scheduled to play in the Baku Cup, but withdrew before the tournament. Zhang started preparing for the US Open at the Bank of the West Classic – lost to qualifier Sachia Vickery in the first round. Entered the doubles competition with Caroline Garcia losing to the third-seeded team of Garbiñe Muguruza & Carla Suárez Navarro in the quarterfinals. Suffered another first round loss at the Rogers Cup against qualifier CoCo Vandeweghe. Played doubles with Samantha Stosur losing against the sixth-seeded team of Raquel Kops-Jones & Abigail Spears in the first round. Lost to twelfth seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the second round at the Western & Southern Open. Was scheduled to play doubles with Stosur again, but Zhang withdrew with an injured right arm. The Grand Slam losing streak reached twelve as she lost to Mona Barthel in the first round at the US Open seeded 32nd.

In September, Zhang withdrew from the Hong Kong Open and Guangzhou Open. Played in the Asian Games in the women's team event with Duan Yingying, Zheng Jie and Zheng Saisai. Zhang won her quarterfinal singles and doubles (with Zheng Jie) matches, but dropped the deciding doubles match in the final earning a silver metal. Lost in the first round to Caroline Garcia at the China Open. Played in the doubles with Samantha Stosur losing to Jarmila Gajdošová & Ajla Tomljanović in the first round.

2016: First Grand Slam quarterfinal

Zhang started her 2016 season at the Shenzhen Open, where she was a wildcard. In the first round, she beat fellow wildcard Irina Khromacheva in straight sets before losing to top seed and eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska in the second.

Prior to the Australian Open, Zhang was contemplating retirement due to a lack of success in majors, having not won a match in a main draw in fourteen attempts. She successfully qualified for the main draw by beating Mandy Minella, Tereza Martincová and Virginie Razzano. In the first round, Zhang caused a huge upset by defeating world number two Simona Halep in straight sets, finally ending her drought on the 15th attempt. Both her and her coach were seen in tears during the time between the match and the on-court interview, as well as the interview itself, where Zhang broke down in tears of joy. She then proceeded to reach the fourth round following subsequent victories over Alizé Cornet and Varvara Lepchenko. In the fourth round, Zhang defeated an injured Madison Keys in three sets and proceeded to the quarter finals where she was defeated by Johanna Konta in straight sets (6–4, 6–1). She became the fourth ever Chinese player to reach the quarter finals of a Grand Slam after Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai. This run earnt her the WTA Breakthrough Performance of the Month award for January, as she received 44% of the votes in a poll on the official WTA website. She also moved 68 places up the rankings, from 133rd to 65th, thus becoming the new Chinese No. 1.

In February, Zhang returned to the ITF circuit in Rancho Santa Fe, California. She won five matches to claim the Morgan Run Women's Open title, culminating in a three-set victory (1-6, 7-5, 6-4) over Vania King.

Zhang finished her breakthrough year with a career-high ranking of 23.

2017: Second WTA title

In September, Zhang won her second WTA title at the Guangzhou Open. Seeded second, she reached the final without dropping a set and defeated the unseeded Serbian Aleksandra Krunić in the final 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to win the title for the second time.

Personal life

Zhang is coached by Liu Shuo. Her parents are Zhang Zhiqiang (a former football player) and Wang Fengqin (a former basketball player). She has spoken of opening a coffee bar when she retires. While she is often referred to as Serena, her English name is Rose.

Singles

This table is current through the 2017 US Open.

Mixed doubles

Mixed Doubles partners: ^JK Julian Knowle ^NM Nicholas Monroe ^SG Santiago González