Yan Zi (tennis)
Yan Zi is a retired mainland Chinese-Hong Kong tennis player.
Career summary
In 2005, at the age of 20, Yan Zi won her only WTA Tour singles title at the Guangzhou Tier III tournament.In singles, she first reached the world top 100 in January 2006, achieving a then career-high of world No. 72 that March before failing to defend her breakthrough run of results the previous year and dropping back outside the top 100 that October. Her ranking had slumped to 262 by February 2007 after a year of disappointing results, but her results then picked up again over the rest of 2007; and she regained the top 100 for the first time in ten months after a spectacular run at the Tier I Rogers Cup in August, reaching the semifinals before finally being defeated by world No. 1 Justine Henin, 6–3, 6–0.
In doubles, her highest ranking is No. 4; she won two Grand Slam titles partnering with Zheng Jie. While she has been good at doubles, her singles performance has been inconsistent as her form fluctuates. She has winning records against top 10 stars Jelena Janković 2–0, Ana Ivanovic 1–0, and Marion Bartoli 1–0.
In 2014, Yan received Hong Kong citizenship. In April 2016, she became captain of the Hong Kong Fed Cup team. She announced her retirement that year.
Singles career in detail
2002–2003
Until January 2002, Yan met with mixed results as a singles player in the lower reaches of the ITF tournament hierarchy. But that month, she reached the final of a $10k event at Hull, losing to Liu Nannan. In May, she avenged this defeat with a win over Liu in the first round of a $50k tournament at Fukuoka; and again in August she defeated Liu, this time in the quarterfinal of a $25k tournament at Beijing, only to lose to Rika Fujiwara in the semifinal. In September, she qualified for the WTA Tour contest at Shanghai, only to lose in the first round. But she had reached numerous ITF quarterfinals during the year, and finished it ranked for the first time inside the world top 300, at No. 299.In February 2003, she narrowly failed to qualify at Hyderabad, losing to Maria Kirilenko in a tight three-set match in the final round of qualifying. She put in her career-best performance to date at Fukuoka, reaching the semifinal with wins over Rika Fujiwara and countrywoman Sun Tiantian, before losing to Saori Obata despite winning more games, the scoreline standing at 6–2, 6–7, 5–7. In July, she qualified for a WTA event at Palermo by defeating Zheng Jie and Ivana Abramović, then fell in the main-draw first round to Italian rising star Francesca Schiavone in another three-setter in which she won more games than her victorious opponent, the scoreline this time being 6–0, 4–6, 3–6. These defeats suggest that she quickly runs out of steam after giving it all in the first set, thereby allowing her opponent to regroup and eventually pocket the contest. The same week, she defeated countrywoman Sun Tiantian to qualify for a $50k tournament at Modena, and in the main draw ousted Yulia Beygelzimer and Adriana Serra Zanetti en route to a quarterfinal loss. In September, she qualified for another WTA event, the Japan Open, and defeated Ashley Harkleroad in round two before losing, on this occasion, to Zheng Jie in the quarterfinals. In December, she reached the semifinal of a $50k tournament for the second time in the year, beating Tzipora Obziler in the quarterfinal at Changsha before losing to another of her prominent countrywomen, Peng Shuai. The following week, she narrowly lost in the quarterfinal of the $50k contest at Shenzhen to future star Sesil Karatantcheva, 6–3, 1–6, 4–6. The year had brought great improvement to Yan's singles results, and her year-end ranking correspondingly improved to 179.
2004
Unfortunately, 2004 set back her progress slightly. The year began poorly for her with a string of early losses, although she was ambitiously targeting only WTA events now, raising the bar on the required standard for successful competition. She failed to win a first-round main draw match the entire year, meeting only with moderate success in qualifying rounds; and ultimately the only relief she could find towards salvaging her world ranking was a retreat to ITF events late in the year. She reached the semifinal of a $25k tournament at Beijing in September, and the same stage at Shenzhen. This late flourish of results was enough to limp her home to a year-end ranking of 248.2005
In January, 2005, Yan battled her way past three high-quality opponents, Julia Schruff, Shikha Uberoi and Melinda Czink, to qualify for Tennis Gold Coast, an important WTA event, where she was removed by Tatiana Golovin of France. Then in May, she managed to beat Uberoi again after qualifying for Rabat with a win over Sun Tiantian, only to lose to Arantxa Parra Santonja in the second round. Then in June, she surpassed her previous career-best result, reaching the final of a $50k tournament at Beijing with wins over Sun and Zheng, but lost in the final to less-feted countrywoman Li Ting. The following month, as a direct entrant to the WTA event at Modena, she defeated the much higher-ranked Marta Domachowska of Poland before losing a close three-setter to Sanda Mamić. In September, she avenged her defeat by Li Ting to qualify for Bali, only to succumb to her former doubles partner Li Na in round two of the main draw.On September 26, she began competing in the WTA event at Guangzhou, this year up-rated to Tier III status, and shocked herself by proceeding to win the entire tournament, having previously failed to win even one ITF singles title, and having only once reached the quarter-final stage at any WTA Tour event. To achieve this astonishing outcome, she had to produce some of her best tennis to conquer defending champion Li Na in the quarterfinal, which she finally won 6–7, 7–5, 7–6 after an intense battle. The other matches against worthy opposition looked easy by comparison, as she crushed Marta Domachowska for the loss of just three games in round two, fought past impressive emerging teen star Victoria Azarenka 6–4, 6–3 in the semifinal, and was up 6–4, 4–0 against Nuria Llagostera Vives in the final when the Spaniard conceded victory.
A semifinal result in November's $50k Shenzhen tournament capped off what had proved to be a superlative year for Yan, leaving her world-ranked 104, within the direct-entry threshold of Grand Slam events and minor WTA tournaments, and within the qualifying-entry threshold of even the more exclusive WTA fixtures.
2006
She began 2006 by narrowly failing to qualify for Tennis Gold Coast, despite wins over Vania King and Shikha Uberoi, as Angela Haynes defeated her in three sets. But she succeeded in qualifying for Sydney with stunning straight-sets victories over Eva Birnerová, Denisa Chládková and Anastasia Yakimova, and beat the high-ranked Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6–3, 6–3 in the main draw first round before losing a three-set match to Francesca Schiavone, who had to struggle through a nail-bitingly close second-set tiebreak to avoid a straight sets loss to Yan, only to win the final set by a more comfortable margin.As if these scores were not enough to prove her capability to the wider world, at the Australian Open she knocked out former No. 15 and the previous year's semifinalist, Nathalie Dechy of France, in the first round, she then defeated unseeded Aleksandra Wozniak 6–3, 6–4, before suffering to former No. 19 Sybille Bammer. February brought more disappointing results in singles for Yan, as she lost a three-setter to Emma Laine of Finland at Pattaya, and failed to qualify for Doha and Dubai. But still, her January results and some points picked up in qualifying rounds in February had improved her world ranking to No. 66, just one place behind Li Na.
2007
At the second round of the Canada Masters in Toronto, she upset world No. 4 Ana Ivanovic with a score of 6–3, 6–1 in just over an hour, even as Ivanovic had a rare off day. She then beat Eleni Daniilidou in the third round and 2007's Wimbledon's finalist Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals. Yan's run was ended in the semifinals by world No. 1, Justine Henin, who showed the door through a straight sets 6–3, 6–0 win over her.2008
Yan started 2008 poorly, with a first-round loss at the Australian Open to eventual quarterfinalist Venus Williams. However, at the Bangalore Open she upset Maria Kirilenko saving three match points. Afterwards she managed to upset Jelena Janković in a quarterfinal, winning 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, however Janković did struggle with a shoulder injury. She eventually lost to runner-up Patty Schnyder 3–6, 4–6 and made her top 50 debut afterwards at No. 43.At the Summer Olympics, Yan and her partner Zheng Jie won the women's doubles bronze medal, defeating the Ukrainian duo of Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko in the bronze medal match.
2009
In January, Yan played qualifying singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles at the Australian Open. In qualifying singles, she was seeded eighth but lost to unseeded Alexandra Panova of Russia, 6–7, 6–2, 7–9 in the qualifying second round. In women's doubles, she partnered with Zheng Jie and was seeded sixth and lost in the third round. In mixed doubles, she partnered with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and was seeded second and lost in the second round. Because of playing doubles extensively her singles ranking has dropped to where it is hard for her to get into events. She has started playing doubles with Chuang Chia-jung, now because she wants to get out of Zheng's shadow. The choice was more so, though, because she wants to improve her singles ranking.Olympics
Doubles: 1 bronze medal match (1–0)
WTA career finals
Singles: 1 title
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Winner | 1. | September 26, 2005 | Guangzhou, China | Hard |  Nuria Llagostera Vives | 6–4, 4–0 ret. |
Doubles: 17 titles, 11 runner-ups
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Runner-up | 1. | June 14, 2003 | Vienna, Austria | Clay |  Zheng Jie | Li Ting Sun Tiantian | 3–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 1. | January 14, 2005 | Hobart, Australia | Hard | Zheng Jie | Anabel Medina Garrigues  Dinara Safina | 6–4, 7–5 |
| Winner | 2. | February 12, 2005 | Hyderabad, India | Hard | Zheng Jie | Li Ting Sun Tiantian | 6–4, 6–1 |
| Runner-up | 2. | September 13, 2005 | Bali, Indonesia | Hard | Zheng Jie |  Anna-Lena Grönefeld  Meghann Shaughnessy | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 3. | September 25, 2005 | Beijing, China | Hard | Zheng Jie |  María Vento-Kabchi Nuria Llagostera Vives | 2–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 3. | January 28, 2006 | Melbourne, Australia | Hard | Zheng Jie | Lisa Raymond  Samantha Stosur | 2–6, 7–6, 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 4. | February 12, 2006 | Pattaya, Thailand | Hard | Zheng Jie | Li Ting Sun Tiantian | 6–3, 1–6, 6–7 |
| Winner | 4. | May 14, 2006 | Berlin, Germany | Clay | Zheng Jie | Elena Dementieva  Flavia Pennetta | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Winner | 5. | May 21, 2006 | Rabat, Morocco | Clay | Zheng Jie | Ashley Harkleroad Bethanie Mattek | 6–1, 6–3 |
| Winner | 6. | June 24, 2006 | s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands | Grass | Zheng Jie |  Ana Ivanovic Maria Kirilenko | 3–6, 6–2, 6–2 |
| Winner | 7. | July 8, 2006 | Wimbledon | Grass | Zheng Jie | Virginia Ruano Pascual  Paola Suárez | 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 5. | July 26, 2006 | Stockholm, Sweden | Hard | Zheng Jie |  Eva Birnerová  Jarmila Gajdošová | 6–0, 4–6, 2–6 |
| Winner | 8. | August 26, 2006 | New Haven, United States | Hard | Zheng Jie | Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur | 6–4, 6–2 |
| Winner | 9. | April 15, 2007 | Charleston, United States | Clay | Zheng Jie | Peng Shuai Sun Tiantian | 7–5, 6–0 |
| Winner | 10. | May 26, 2007 | Strasbourg, France | Clay | Zheng Jie | Alicia Molik Sun Tiantian | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Winner | 11. | September 30, 2007 | Guangzhou, China | Hard | Peng Shuai | Vania King Sun Tiantian | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Winner | 12. | October 7, 2007 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Sun Tiantian |  Chuang Chia-jung Vania King | 1–6, 6–2, |
| Winner | 13. | October 14, 2007 | Bangkok, Thailand | Hard | Sun Tiantian |  Ayumi Morita Junri Namigata | w/o |
| Runner-up | 6. | January 5, 2008 | Gold Coast, Australia | Hard | Zheng Jie | Dinara Safina  Ágnes Szávay | 1–6, 2–6 |
| Winner | 14. | January 11, 2008 | Sydney, Australia | Hard | Zheng Jie |  Tatiana Perebiynis  Tatiana Poutchek | 6–4, 7–6 |
| Runner-up | 7. | March 1, 2008 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Hard | Zheng Jie |  Cara Black Liezel Huber | 5–7, 2–6 |
| Runner-up | 8. | March 22, 2008 | Indian Wells, United States | Hard | Zheng Jie | Dinara Safina Elena Vesnina | 1–6, 6–1, |
| Winner | 15. | May 24, 2008 | Strasbourg, France | Clay | Tatiana Perebiynis | Chan Yung-jan Chuang Chia-jung | 6–4, 6–7, |
| Runner-up | 9. | September 21, 2008 | Guangzhou, China | Hard | Sun Tiantian | Mariya Koryttseva Tatiana Poutchek | 6–3, 2–6, |
| Runner-up | 10. | May 23, 2009 | Warsaw, Poland | Clay | Zheng Jie | Raquel Kops-Jones Bethanie Mattek-Sands | 1–6, 1–6 |
| Winner | 16. | August 9, 2009 | Los Angeles, United States | Hard | Chuang Chia-jung | Maria Kirilenko  Agnieszka Radwańska | 6–0, 4–6, |
| Winner | 17. | April 11, 2010 | Ponte Vedra, United States | Clay | Bethanie Mattek-Sands | Chuang Chia-jung Peng Shuai | 4–6, 6–4, |
| Runner-up | 11. | May 17, 2010 | Warsaw, Poland | Clay | Cara Black | Virginia Ruano Pascual Meghann Shaughnessy | 3–6, 4–6 |
ITF finals
Singles (0–2)
Doubles (16–7)
Performance timelines
Singles performance timeline
- 1as of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing San Diego and Zurich
Grand Slam doubles performance timeline