Yan Zi

Yan Zi (; born November 12, 1984 in Chengdu, Sichuan), is a Chinese professional tennis player.

Career summary

In 2005, at the age of 20, Yan Zi won her first and only WTA Tour singles title at the Guangzhou Tier III tournament. The tournament did not have any major players.

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 Canada's Tier I Rogers Cup in August, reaching the semifinals before finally being heavily defeated by World No. 1 Justine Henin 3–6, 0–6.

In doubles, Yan Zi's highest ranking to date is number 4 and she has 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 Ivanović 1–0, and Marion Bartoli 1–0.

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,...
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