Saisai Zheng

Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born 5 February 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 34, achieved on 2 March 2020, and a doubles ranking of No. 15, achieved on 11 July 2016. In her career, she won one singles title in 2019 (at the Premier event in Silicon Valley), and six doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She also reached the final of the 2019 French Open in doubles with compatriot Duan Yingying.

In addition, she won three singles and three doubles titles at WTA 125 tournaments, as well as twelve singles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

Playing for China Fed Cup team, Zheng has a win–loss record of 11–7 as of September 2024.

Early life and background

Zheng started playing tennis at age eight at tennis academy where mother worked. She stated that her tennis idol growing up was Justine Henin. Her favorite tournaments are Australian Open and Wimbledon. Zheng is coached by Alan Ma (). Her favorite shot is drop shot.

Her father is of Tibetan ethnicity. She also has a Tibetan name, Suodian Zhuoma ().

Her nickname is ''Jaguar'', for her footwork and defence.

Professional career

2008–12: WTA Tour debut & top 100 in doubles

Zheng began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in June 2008, at the age of 14, where, at the $25k Qian Shan, she lost in the first round of qualifying against fellow Chinese Zhou Xiao. Her first main-draw appearance happened next year, at a $10k event in Jiangmen in February. In July 2009, she played her first ITF singles final and also win the trophy, at the $10k Shenzhen, after defeating Sabina Sharipova in the final. On the same tournament, she also made her doubles debut, but lost in the first round. In July 2010, she won her first ITF doubles title at the $10k Hefei, alongside Tian Ran. She won one singles title, at the $10k Taipei in October 2010.

In September 2011, Zheng made her WTA Tour debut in both singles and doubles at the Guangzhou International Open. There she won her first doubles title, partnering Hsieh Su-wei and defeating Chan Chin-wei and Han Xinyun in straight sets. In singles, she lost in the first round. Week later, she made her debut at the Premier Mandatory China Open as a wildcard player only in singles, but lost in round one. During the year, she also performed on the ITF Circuit in doubles, winning the $100k Ningbo Challenger alongside Tetiana Luzhanska in September 2011, right before she made her WTA Tour debut. As the year passed by, Zheng progressed more and more in doubles ranking, starting the year as No. 794 and finishing the year as world No. 108. In singles, she rose from 670 to No. 276.

At the 2012 French Open, Zheng made her doubles Grand Slam debut and also won her first match there. Later, she had her first attempts to be part of the Grand Slam tournament main draw in singles, but lost in the qualifying of Wimbledon, and later of the US Open. In July 2012, she won her first singles match at the Premier-level Stanford Classic, defeating Ayumi Morita in the first round. For the second year-in-a-row, she played at the China Open as wildcard player, but again lost in the first round. This time she also played in doubles, but lost in the first round. During the season, she progress in singles ranking, entering top 150 for the first time in September 2012 and finished year as world No. 133. In doubles, she debuted in the top 100 in February 2012, then rose to No. 84 in July, but finished the year as world No. 98.

2013–15: Progress, Australian Open semifinal in doubles

Zheng had a strong start of the year, reaching Australian Open doubles semifinal as her first significant Grand Slam result. In that semifinal match, she partnered with Varvara Lepchenko, and they were defeated by Australians Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, in straight sets. She still do not shine in singles, but continued with good performances in doubles, reaching quarterfinals at the French Open, also with Lepchenko, where they were defeated by top-seeded Italian duo Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, in straight sets. In August, she made progress in singles, reaching the final of the Suzhou Ladies Open, but lost to Shahar Peer. By the end of the year, in singles, she reached two WTA 125 quarterfinals, in Nanjing and Taipei, while at both those tournaments she reached semifinals in doubles. She also reached semifinal of the International-level Japan Women's Open in doubles. In the doubles ranking, Zheng debut in the top 50 in doubles, getting to place 49 in March, and then rose to No. 38, that also was her year-end ranking. In singles, she made ups and downs in the rankings, but spent whole year inside top 200. She finished the year as world No. 162.

Things became better for Zheng in singles in 2014. She had her major main-draw debut in singles, passed qualifying at the US Open and also then her first match-win there. She defeated Stefanie Vögele in the first round, but then lost to Lucie Šafářová. She then had success at both WTA Tour and WTA 125 tournaments. On WTA Tour, she first reached quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open and then semifinals of the Tianjin Open, while on the Challenger Tour, she reached quarterfinals in Suzhou, Ningbo and Taipei. During the year, she reached one final in doubles, at the Malaysian Open in April. On 13 October 2014, she entered top 100 in singles, when she reached the spot of world No. 92. Zheng finished 2014 season as the 97th. In doubles, she had ups and downs but spent the whole year inside top 100 and finished world No. 81.

During the 2015 season, Zheng has good performances, both in singles and doubles. Her most valued title of the year was at the Premier-level Stanford Classic in doubles event in August. That was her first final and title from higher-level tournament, than International. Along with that, in October she won 2015 Tianjin Open, also in doubles. In singles, her most recognized result of the year was in the first week of the year, at the 2015 Shenzhen Open, where she reached semifinals.

In the second half of 2015, she reached two quarterfinals, at the 2015 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships and 2015 Guangzhou International Women's Open. On the WTA Challenger Tour, she reached final of the Dalian Open in singles, while in doubles she won the title, and so she did at the Jiangxi Open. On the ITF Circuit, she won two $75k titles in singles and one in doubles. At the end of the year, she was handed a wildcard for the 2015 WTA Elite Trophy in singles. However, she lost both matches in the round-robin group, to Madison Keys and Venus Williams.

2016–18: Top 15 in doubles & top 50 in singles year-end rankings

She reached the semifinals at the 2016 Australian Open and was a quarterfinalist at the 2016 French Open in women's doubles with Xu Yifan.

2019–21: First WTA Tour title and top 35 in singles, French Open doubles final

At the 2019 French Open, Zheng made her first Grand Slam final, alongside Duan Yingying; they lost against Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, in straight sets.

In August, Zheng won her first WTA Tour singles title at the Silicon Valley Classic when she defeated second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 34 on 2 March 2020, following a second quarterfinal showing at the Qatar Ladies Open with a win over world No. 6 and seventh seed, Kiki Bertens.

2024: Italian Open semifinal, sixth title, back to top 75, third Olympics

Following her comeback after two years hiatus, using protected ranking, she reached the second round at the Miami Open and the quarterfinals for a second time at the Madrid Open with Wang Xinyu. She also reached the semifinals for the first time at the next WTA 1000, the Italian Open, again with Wang Xinyu, upsetting top seeds Hsieh/Mertens to face third seeds Gauff/Routliffe for a spot in the final.
Following her sixth title at the 2024 Berlin Ladies Open with Wang Xinyu, she returned to the top 75 in the doubles rankings, raising more than 50 positions on 24 June 2024.

Using protected ranking, she participated in her third Olympics in Paris in doubles with Wang Xinyu.

2025: Singapore doubles final

Partnering Wang Xinyu, Zheng reached the doubles final at the Singapore Open, losing to second seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Giuliana Olmos.

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

Doubles

Grand Slam tournament finals

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 15 (6 titles, 9 runner-ups)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 3 (3 titles)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 20 (12 titles, 8 runner–ups)

Doubles: 16 (9 titles, 7 runner–ups)

Summer Youth Olympic Games

Singles: 1 (silver medal)

Doubles: 1 (gold medal)

Wins over top-10 players

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zheng, Saisai
1994 births
Living people
Chinese female tennis players
Olympic tennis players for China
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Youth Olympic gold medalists for China
Tennis players at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
Asian Games medalists in tennis
Asian Games silver medalists for China
Tennis players at the 2014 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
Tibetan people
Sportspeople from Xi'an
Tennis players from Shaanxi
21st-century Chinese sportswomen