Yan Zi (tennis)
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Yan Zi (; born 12 November 1984) is a retired mainland Chinese-Hong Kong
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player.


Career summary

In 2005, at the age of 20, Yan Zi won her only
WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...
singles title at the Guangzhou International Open. 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 The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
in August, reaching the semifinals before finally being defeated by world No. 1,
Justine Henin Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in te ...
, in straight sets. In doubles, her highest ranking is No. 4; she won two Grand Slam titles, partnering with
Zheng Jie Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a retired tennis player from China. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15. Zheng is one of the most successful tennis players from China. She won four WTA singles titles – Ho ...
. 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 Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...
2–0,
Ana Ivanovic Ana Schweinsteiger ( sr, Ана Швајнштајгер / ''Ana Švajnštajger''; born 6 November 1987), professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / ''Ana Ivanović'', ), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tenn ...
1–0, and
Marion Bartoli Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title after previously being runner-up in 2007, and was a semifinalist at the 2011 French Open. She als ...
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 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 is a retired Japanese tennis player. On 22 August 2005, Fujiwara reached her best singles ranking of world No. 84. On 11 November 2002, she peaked at No. 13 in the WTA doubles rankings. At the 2002 Australian Open, Fujiwara partnered with S ...
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 Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə ; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open a ...
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 , Obata Saori, born 23 April 1978 is a retired female tennis player from Japan. She turned professional in April 1996, and in February 2004, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of 39, and on the same day she reached her career-high doub ...
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 Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a retired tennis player from China. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15. Zheng is one of the most successful tennis players from China. She won four WTA singles titles – Ho ...
and
Ivana Abramović Ivana Abramović (; born 3 September 1983) is a retired Croatian tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings are 143 in singles, achieved on 12 January 2004, and 141 in doubles, set on 29 January 2007. Her younger sister Maria Abramović also p ...
, then fell in the main-draw first round to Italian rising star
Francesca Schiavone Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She wa ...
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 Yuliya Markovna Beygelzimer ( ua, Юлія Марківна Бейгельзимер; born 20 October 1983) is a retired tennis player from Ukraine. Career She is perhaps best known for nearly defeating Jennifer Capriati at the 2004 French Op ...
and
Adriana Serra Zanetti Adriana Serra Zanetti (born 5 March 1976; ) is a retired Italian tennis player. On 11 February 2002, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 38. On 17 June 2002, she peaked at No. 69 in the doubles rankings. In her career, she ...
en route to a quarterfinal loss. In September, she qualified for another WTA event, the Japan Open, and defeated
Ashley Harkleroad Ashley Harkleroad Adams (born May 2, 1985) is a former professional American tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking in singles of 39 in June 2003. Career Raised in Chickamauga, Georgia (near Chattanooga, Tennessee), Harkleroad turned p ...
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 Tzipora "Tzipi" Obziler ( he, ציפורה אובזילר; born 19 April 1973) is a former Israeli professional right-handed tennis player. She reached her career-high singles world ranking of No. 75 in on 8 July 2007, and career-high doubles r ...
in the quarterfinal at Changsha before losing to another of her prominent countrywomen,
Peng Shuai Peng Shuai (; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese retired professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked world No. 1 doubles player by the WTA, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to achieve that ranking (in either single ...
. The following week, she narrowly lost in the quarterfinal of the $50k contest at Shenzhen to future star
Sesil Karatantcheva Sesil Radoslavova Karatantcheva ( bg, Сесил Радославова Каратанчева; born 8 August 1989) is a Bulgarian former tennis player. In her career, she won nine singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 7 November 2005, ...
, 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 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 by
Li Na Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand Sl ...
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 Julia Schruff (born 16 August 1982) is a retired professional German tennis player. Career Her career high WTA-ranking was attained on 17 April 2006, when she reached No. 52. Her highest doubles ranking was reached on 2 October 2006, when sh ...
,
Shikha Uberoi Shikha Devi Uberoi (born 5 April 1983) is an Indian-American former professional tennis player, who formerly represented India in international tournaments and a former Indian No. 1. After Nirupama Sanjeev. She is also the second Indian female ...
and
Melinda Czink Melinda Czink (born 22 October 1982) is a former professional tennis player from Hungary. On 21 September 2009, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 37. Czink reached two WTA Tour singles finals. In 2005, she lost to Ana Iva ...
, to qualify for
Tennis Gold Coast Tennis Gold Coast is the governing body for the sport of tennis in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The organisation is based in Southport, Queensland in Australia. Famous players from the Gold Coast are players such as Samantha Stosur and Bernard T ...
, an important WTA event, where she was removed by
Tatiana Golovin Tatiana Golovin ( rus, Татья́на Григóрьевна Головина́, r=Tatyana Grigoryevna Golovina; born 25 January 1988) is a Russian-born French professional tennis player. She won the 2004 French Open mixed-doubles event, partn ...
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 Arantxa Parra Santonja (; born 9 November 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She turned pro in 2000 and retired in 2019. In her career, Parra Santonja won eleven doubles titles on the WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide ...
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 Marta Domachowska (; born 16 January 1986) is a former tennis player from Poland. She was ranked world No. 37 in singles (2006) and No. 62 in doubles (2006), and reached 2008 Australian Open fourth round in singles and won 2006 Canberra Intern ...
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 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 Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former wo ...
in the semifinal, and was up 6–4, 4–0 against
Nuria Llagostera Vives Nuria Llagostera Vives (; born 16 May 1980) is a retired Spanish tennis player. In June 2005, Llagostera Vives reached her best singles ranking of world No. 35. In November 2009, she peaked at No. 5 in the WTA doubles rankings. Professional ca ...
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 the season by narrowly failing to qualify for Tennis Gold Coast, despite wins over
Vania King Vania King (born February 3, 1989) is an American former tennis player. A former top-ten doubles player, King won both the Wimbledon and US Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with partner Yaroslava Shvedova, with whom she also reached the fi ...
and
Shikha Uberoi Shikha Devi Uberoi (born 5 April 1983) is an Indian-American former professional tennis player, who formerly represented India in international tournaments and a former Indian No. 1. After Nirupama Sanjeev. She is also the second Indian female ...
, as
Angela Haynes Angela Haynes (born September 27, 1984) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Her top WTA singles ranking is world No. 95 which she attained in August 2005. Her brother Dontia Haynes, a former San Diego State University ...
defeated her in three sets. But she succeeded in qualifying for Sydney with stunning straight-sets victories over
Eva Birnerová Eva Birnerová (born 14 August 1984) is a Czech former tennis player. In her career, she won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as eight singles and 11 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 29 January 2007, she reached her be ...
,
Denisa Chládková Denisa Chládková (born 8 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. Life and career Chládková did not win any WTA Tour titles, but she is probably best remembered for reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinal ...
and
Anastasia Yakimova Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the most ...
, and beat the high-ranked
Anna Chakvetadze Anna Djambuliovna Chakvetadze ( ; born 5 March 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. In her career, Chakvetadze won eight WTA Tour singles titles, the biggest being the 2006 Kremlin Cup. She booked her highest singles ranking o ...
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 The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
she knocked out former No. 15 and the previous year's semifinalist,
Nathalie Dechy Nathalie Dechy (born 21 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from France. Dechy is a three-time doubles Grand Slam champion, winning the 2006 US Open women's doubles title with Vera Zvonareva, the 2007 French Open mixed doubl ...
of France, in the first round, she then defeated unseeded
Aleksandra Wozniak Aleksandra Wozniak ( pl, Woźniak; born September 7, 1987) is a Canadian former tennis player. She turned professional in November 2005, and achieved a career-best ranking of No. 21 in June 2009, making her the fifth highest-ranked Canadian singl ...
, before suffering to former No. 19,
Sybille Bammer Sybille Bammer (born 27 April 1980) is a former professional tennis player from Austria. Her career-high ranking is No. 19, which she achieved on 17 December 2007. She was one of three mothers on the WTA Tour, having taken time off at age 21 to ...
. February brought more disappointing results in singles for Yan, as she lost a three-setter to
Emma Laine Emma Johanna Laine (born 26 March 1986) is a former tennis player from Finland. Laine won 11 singles and 44 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 7 August 2006, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 50. On 30 October 2006, s ...
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 The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
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 Eleni Daniilidou ( el, Ελένη Δανιηλίδου; ; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek former tennis player from the island of Crete. She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and t ...
in the third round and 2007's
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
'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.


2008

Yan started 2008 poorly, with a first-round loss at the Australian Open to eventual quarterfinalist
Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
. However, at the
Bangalore Open The Bengaluru Open is a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP Challenger Tour. It is held annually in Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is ...
she upset
Maria Kirilenko Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə ; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open a ...
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 Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011
is a Swiss reti ...
in straight sets and made her top-50 debut afterwards at No. 43. At the
Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
, 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 Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (russian: Александра Александровна Панова; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player. On 30 July 2012, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 71. On 18 ...
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 Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in m ...
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


Doubles: 17 titles, 11 runner-ups


ITF Circuit finals


Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)


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


Grand Slam performance timelines


Singles

* 1as of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
and Zurich


Doubles


References


External links

* * * *
Yan Zi's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yan, Zi 1984 births Living people Australian Open (tennis) champions Hong Kong female tennis players Olympic bronze medalists for China Olympic tennis players of China Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wimbledon champions Olympic medalists in tennis Tennis players at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in tennis Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Sportspeople from Chengdu Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Tennis players from Sichuan Chinese female tennis players