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Yan Zi
Yan Zi
Chinese	晏紫
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Yàn Zǐ
IPA	[jɛ̂n tsì]

Yan Zi
晏紫
Country (sports)	China (2000–2014); Hong Kong (2014–2016)
Residence	Hong Kong
Born	12 November 1984 (age 40); Chengdu, Sichuan
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	February 2003
Retired	2016
Plays	Right (two-handed both sides)
Prize money	US$ 1,977,871
Singles
Career record	199–160
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 40 (5 May 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (2006)
French Open	1R (2006, 2008)
Wimbledon	1R (2006, 2007, 2008)
US Open	1R (2006, 2007, 2008)
Doubles
Career record	375–179
Career titles	17
Highest ranking	No. 4 (10 July 2006)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (2006)
French Open	SF (2006)
Wimbledon	W (2006)
US Open	QF (2005, 2006, 2008)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	Bronze medal (2008)
Medal record
Women's Tennis
Representing China
Olympic Games
Asian Games

Yan Zi (Chinese: 晏紫; born 12 November 1984) is a retired 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 International Open.^[1]

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 Canada Masters in August, reaching the semifinals before finally being defeated by world No. 1, Justine Henin, in straight sets.^[2]

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 fluctuated. 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. Later that year, she announced her retirement.

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 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. However, she had reached numerous ITF Circuit 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 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 Sun Tiantian to qualify for a $50k event 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, in three sets. 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 Tour 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 Circuit late in the year. She reached the semifinal of a $25k tournament at Beijing in September (losing again to Zheng Jie), and the same stage at Shenzhen (where she shocked Li Na in the quarterfinals, then lost yet again to Zheng). 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.

In September 2005, she began competing in the WTA event at Guangzhou, this year upgraded 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 in the semifinal, and was up 6–4, 4–0 against Nuria Llagostera Vives in the final when the Spaniard conceded victory.^[1]

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 the season 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 Anna Chakvetadze in two sets 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, 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 Canadian Open 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 (who retired while trailing 2–6, 0–3) 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 win over her.^[2]

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 in straight sets 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 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.

Olympic medal matches

Doubles: 1 (bronze)

Result	Year	Location	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Bronze	2008	Beijing	Hard	Zheng Jie	Alona Bondarenko Kateryna Bondarenko	6–2, 6–2

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 1 (title)

Legend
Tier I
Tier II
Tier III (1–0)
Tier IV & V

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	26 September 2005	Guangzhou Open, China	Hard	Nuria Llagostera Vives	6–4, 4–0 ret.

Doubles: 28 (17 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Legend before 2009	Starting in 2009
Grand Slam tournaments
Tier I (2–1)	Premier Mandatory
Tier II (2–2)	Premier 5
Tier III (6–4)	Premier (1–2)
Tier IV & V (3–2)	International (1–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	Jun 2003	Vienna Open, Austria	Clay	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	3–6, 4–6
Win	1.	Jan 2005	Hobart International, Australia	Hard	Zheng Jie	Anabel Medina Garrigues Dinara Safina	6–4, 7–5
Win	2.	Feb 2005	Hyderabad Open, India	Hard	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	6–4, 6–1
Loss	2.	Sep 2005	Bali International, Indonesia	Hard	Zheng Jie	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Meghann Shaughnessy	3–6, 3–6
Loss	3.	Sep 2005	Beijing Open, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	María Vento-Kabchi Nuria Llagostera Vives	2–6, 4–6
Win	3.	Jan 2006	Australian Open	Hard	Zheng Jie	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	2–6, 7–6^(9–7), 6–3
Loss	4.	Feb 2006	Pattaya Open, Thailand	Hard	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	6–3, 1–6, 6–7^(5–7)
Win	4.	May 2006	German Open	Clay	Zheng Jie	Elena Dementieva Flavia Pennetta	6–2, 6–3
Win	5.	May 2006	Rabat Grand Prix, Morocco	Clay	Zheng Jie	Ashley Harkleroad Bethanie Mattek	6–1, 6–3
Win	6.	Jun 2006	Rosmalen Open, Netherlands	Grass	Zheng Jie	Ana Ivanovic Maria Kirilenko	3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Win	7.	Jul 2006	Wimbledon Championships, UK	Grass	Zheng Jie	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
Loss	5.	Jul 2006	Nordic Light Open, Sweden	Hard	Zheng Jie	Eva Birnerová Jarmila Gajdošová	6–0, 4–6, 2–6
Win	8.	Aug 2006	New Haven Open, United States	Hard	Zheng Jie	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–4, 6–2
Win	9.	Apr 2007	Charleston Open, United States	Clay	Zheng Jie	Peng Shuai Sun Tiantian	7–5, 6–0
Win	10.	May 2007	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Zheng Jie	Alicia Molik Sun Tiantian	6–3, 6–4
Win	11.	Sep 2007	Guangzhou International, China	Hard	Peng Shuai	Vania King Sun Tiantian	6–3, 6–4
Win	12.	Oct 2007	Tokyo Championships, Japan	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Chuang Chia-jung Vania King	1–6, 6–2, [10–6]
Win	13.	Oct 2007	Bangkok Open, Thailand	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Ayumi Morita Junri Namigata	w/o
Loss	6.	Jan 2008	Gold Coast Hardcourts, Australia	Hard	Zheng Jie	Dinara Safina Ágnes Szávay	1–6, 2–6
Win	14.	Jan 2008	Sydney International, Australia	Hard	Zheng Jie	Tatiana Perebiynis Tatiana Poutchek	6–4, 7–6^(7–5)
Loss	7.	Mar 2008	Dubai Championships, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Zheng Jie	Cara Black Liezel Huber	5–7, 2–6
Loss	8.	Mar 2008	Indian Wells Open, United States	Hard	Zheng Jie	Dinara Safina Elena Vesnina	1–6, 6–1, [8–10]
Win	15.	May 2008	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Tatiana Perebiynis	Chan Yung-jan Chuang Chia-jung	6–4, 6–7^(3–7), [10–6]
Loss	9.	Sep 2008	Guangzhou International Open, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Mariya Koryttseva Tatiana Poutchek	6–3, 2–6, [8–10]
Loss	10.	May 2009	Warsaw Open, Poland	Clay	Zheng Jie	Raquel Kops-Jones Bethanie Mattek-Sands	1–6, 1–6
Win	16.	Aug 2009	LA Championships, United States	Hard	Chuang Chia-jung	Maria Kirilenko Agnieszka Radwańska	6–0, 4–6, [10–7]
Win	17.	Apr 2010	Ponte Vedra Championships, U.S.	Clay	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Chuang Chia-jung Peng Shuai	4–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Loss	11.	May 2010	Warsaw Open, Poland	Clay	Cara Black	Virginia Ruano Pascual Meghann Shaughnessy	3–6, 4–6

ITF Circuit finals

Legend
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	27 January 2002	ITF Hull, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Liu Nannan	1–6, 2–6
Loss	0–2	12 June 2005	Beijing Challenger, China	Hard	Li Ting	1–6, 3–6

Doubles: 23 (16 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	10 September 2000	ITF Zhejiang, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	Chen Yan Sun Tiantian	3–6, 5–7
Win	1–1	4 June 2001	ITF Hohhot, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	Chen Yan Sun Tiantian	6–4, 2–6, 6–3
Win	2–1	3 February 2002	ITF Tipton, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Zheng Jie	Tessy van de Ven Suzanne van Hartingsveldt	6–1, 6–3
Winner	4.	14 April 2002	ITF Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Hard	Zheng Jie	Ayami Takase Remi Tezuka	6–1, 1–6, 6–2
Winner	5.	15 April 2002	ITF Cagliari, Italy	Clay	Zheng Jie	Li Na Li Ting	6–4, 6–0
Winner	6.	23 April 2002	ITF Taranto, Italy	Clay	Zheng Jie	Eva Fislová Stanislava Hrozenská	6–2, 6–2
Winner	7.	29 April 2002	ITF Maglie, Italy	Carpet (i)	Zheng Jie	Edina Gallovits-Hall Magda Mihalache	6–4, 6–1
Winner	8.	19 May 2002	ITF Shanghai, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	He Chunyan Liu Weijuan	6–2, 6–2
Winner	9.	26 May 2002	ITF Tianjin, China	Hard (i)	Zheng Jie	Chan Chin-wei Chuang Chia-jung	6–0, 6–4
Runner-up	10.	11 August 2002	ITF Beijing, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	5–7, 3–6
DNP	–	11 March 2003	ITF Fountain Hills, United States	Hard	Zheng Jie	Alicia Molik Trudi Musgrave	—
Winner	11.	18 March 2003	ITF Redding, United States	Hard	Zheng Jie	Jennifer Hopkins Abigail Spears	7–6⁽³⁾, 7–6⁽⁵⁾
Winner	12.	16 June 2003	ITF Gorizia, Italy	Clay	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 1–6, 6–4
Winner	13.	30 June 2003	ITF Orbetello, Italy	Clay	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	6–2, 7–5
Winner	14.	19 October 2003	ITF Sedona, United States	Clay	Zheng Jie	Alina Jidkova Rossana de los Ríos	7–6⁽²⁾, 7–6⁽³⁾
Winner	15.	20 October 2003	ITF Paducah, United States	Hard	Zheng Jie	Kim Grant Samantha Reeves	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	16.	30 November 2003	ITF Changsha, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	17.	7 December 2003	ITF Shenzhen, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Winner	18.	26 October 2004	ITF Shenzhen	Hard	Zheng Jie	Chuang Chia-jung Hsieh Su-wei	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	19.	7 November 2004	ITF Shenzhen	Hard	Zheng Jie	Rika Fujiwara Elena Tatarkova	4–6, 6–1, 1–6
Winner	20.	6 June 2005	Beijing Challenger, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	6–1, 7–5
Runner-up	21.	7 August 2005	ITF Washington, United States	Clay	Jennifer Hopkins	Olena Antypina Tatiana Poutchek	4–6, 4–6
Winner	22.	13 November 2005	ITF Shenzhen, China	Hard	Hsieh Su-wei	Chan Chin-wei Hsu Wen-hsin	6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	23.	10 January 2010	Blossom Cup, China	Hard	Yuliya Beygelzimer	Liu Wanting Zhou Yimiao	1–6, 2–6

Grand Slam performance timelines

Key
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	LQ	A	2R	LQ	1R	0 / 2	1–2
French Open	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	0 / 2	0–2
Wimbledon	A	LQ	A	1R	1R	1R	0 / 3	0–3
US Open	LQ	A	LQ	1R	1R	1R	0 / 3	0–3
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–4	0–2	0–4	N/A	1–10
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	NH	A	NH	NH	NH		0 / 0	0–0
Tier I tournaments
Doha¹	Not Tier I					2R	0 / 1	1–1
Indian Wells	A	A	A	1R	A	2R	0 / 2	1–2
Miami	A	1R	A	1R	A	A	0 / 2	0–2
Charleston	A	LQ	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1
Berlin	A	1R	A	LQ	2R	2R	0 / 4	6–4
Rome	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	0 / 2	3–2
Toronto/Montréal	A	A	A	A	SF	A	0 / 1	6–1
Tokyo	A	LQ	A	A	LQ	A	0 / 2	4–2
Moscow	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Previous Tier I tournaments
San Diego¹	NTI	A	A	A	A	NH	0 / 0	0–0
Zürich¹	A	A	A	LQ	A	NTI	0 / 1	0–1

¹as of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing San Diego and Zurich

Doubles

Tournament	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	W–L
Australian Open	A	QF	1R	W	SF	SF	3R	QF	2R	A	1R	23–8
French Open	A	1R	3R	SF	1R	3R	QF	3R	A	A	A	13–7
Wimbledon	A	3R	A	W	QF	3R	3R	2R	A	A	1R	16–6
US Open	1R	2R	QF	QF	2R	QF	QF	2R	A	A	A	15–8
Win–loss	0–1	6–4	5–3	19–2	8–4	11–4	10–4	7–4	1–1	0–0	0–2	67–29