Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 2, achieved in July 2022, and a singles ranking of No. 22, reached in January 2023. She is a three-time Grand Slam tournament champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open alongside Samantha Stosur, and the 2026 Australian Open partnering Elise Mertens.
Zhang also finished runner-up at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships and 2024 US Open, and has reached six further semifinals across women's and mixed doubles. She has won a total of 14 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including the 2021 Cincinnati Open with Stosur. Zhang has also qualified for the WTA Finals on two occasions.
She has also enjoyed success in singles winning three WTA Tour singles titles, at the Guangzhou International in 2013 and 2017, and the 2022 Lyon Open, and finished runner-up at three further tournaments. She has reached two major quarterfinals, at the 2016 Australian Open and 2019 Wimbledon Championships. Alongside Li Na, Zheng Jie, Peng Shuai, Wang Qiang and Zheng Qinwen, Zhang is one of only six Chinese tennis players to have reached this stage at a major. She has represented China in the Billie Jean King Cup since 2009, and also competed at the 2012, 2016 and 2024 Olympic Games.
Career Zhang, born in Tianjin, started playing tennis at the age of six, when her parents took her to a local tennis club.
She turned professional in 2003 and played her first singles event in Mollerusa in August of that year. After defeating Matilde Munoz-Gonzalves in the first qualifying round, she lost to Laura Figuerola-Foix. After a full year on the ITF Women's Circuit, Zhang finished 2004 with a year-end ranking of 901st.
She enjoyed considerable success in singles on ITF tournaments, having won one $50k event, eight $25k and three $10k events between 2006 and 2009. however, she had won only two main-draw tournaments on the WTA Tour. However, she won her first singles title at the 2013 Guangzhou Open as a wildcard entrant.
2012: Olympics debut in doubles Zhang started her year at the Blossom Cup in Quanzhou. She defeated Nudnida Luangnam and Anna Floris in the first and second rounds, respectively, before falling to Tímea Babos in the quarterfinals. At the Australian Open, she had received a wildcard and was beaten by Aleksandra Wozniak in the first round, in straight sets. It was her seventh first-round loss in a major tournament.
At the Monterrey Open, she lost to Gréta Arn in the first round. Next, Zhang went to Indian Wells to play at the Open where she was a qualifier. She lost to Simona Halep in the first round. At the French Open, she lost in the first round to Angelique Kerber.
Zhang competed at the London Olympics tournament in the women's doubles with Li Na, reaching the second round.
2013: First WTA Tour title
Started the year as the top-seed at the ITF tournament Innisbrook Open in Florida on clay with a first-round loss to 468th ranked wildcard Asia Muhammad. Skipping the Australian Open and remaining in Florida for another ITF clay-court tournament, the $25k Tesoro Open in Port St. Lucie losing to 214th ranked and fourth seed Tadeja Majerič in the semifinal. In doubles, she and partner Sharon Fichman were seeded second and lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual winners, qualifiers Angelina Gabueva & Allie Will. Zhang entered three WTA Tour tournaments and played doubles with Janette Husárová: as the third seed in the qualifying draw, lost to 647th ranked Abigail Spears in the first round of the qualifier in the Qatar Open in Doha and lost to Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur in second round; lost to 61st ranked Anabel Medina Garrigues in the second round of qualifying in the Dubai Tennis Championships and lost to Julia Görges & Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the first round. and lost to 23rd and second seeded Hsieh Su-wei in the second round of the Malaysian Open and lost to second seeded team of Shuko Aoyama and Chang Kai-chen in an exciting final. Returning stateside losing to 131st ranked wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the qualifying final of the Miami Open, teaming up with Megan Moulton-Levy, lost in the second round to third seeded Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik. Zhang lost to Petra Rampre (No. 282) in the first qualifying round as the seventh seed in the Charleston Open. Zhang & Moulton-Levy were beaten in the semifinal by the top-seeded team of Andrea Hlaváčková & Liezel Huber. Playing as the fifth seed in the $25k Challenger in Pelham, Alabama, she lost to the 197th ranked Ashleigh Barty, in the second round. Playing in her first final as the eighth seed at the Dothan Pro Classic, she lost to Ajla Tomljanović (No. 171). As the seventh seed at the ITF Charlottesville, she lost to 381st ranked wildcard player Allie Will in the first round.
Zhang entered the doubles draw of the Madrid Open with Zheng Jie as the seventh seeded team, they lost in the first round to Kristina Mladenovic & Galina Voskoboeva. In Rome, she lost to the fifth-seeded Madison Keys (No. 60) at the Italian Open in the first qualifying round. Again partnering with Zheng, the eighth-seeded team lost to Dominika Cibulková & Monica Niculescu in the opening round. Zhang entered the French Open doubles with Zheng as No. 13, losing to the second-seeded team of Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in the third round. She also entered the mixed-doubles tournament with Julian Knowle, losing in the second round to the fifth-seeded team of Kristina Mladenovic & Daniel Nestor. She then played in the National Games of China in Dalian with team members Duan Yingying, Peng Shuai and Zheng Saisai representing Tianjin in the team competition winning the gold medal over Team Shanghai. Zhang entered Wimbledon doubles with Moulton-Levy losing to the 12th seeded team of Ashleigh Barty & Casey Dellacqua in the second round. She entered the mixed-doubles tournament once again with Knowle losing in the first round to Barty & John Peers. At the Beijing Challenger, she, as the third seed, made her second final of the year beating the top-seed Misaki Doi. In the final, she defeated the fourth-seeded Zhou Yimiao winning her first title since 31 May 2010, at the Infond Open in Maribor. Zhang competed at the National Games of China in Dalian for the individual finals in the end of July. Playing as the third seed, she lost in the second round (after receiving a bye) to 728th ranked Zhang Kailin. In the doubles tournament, as the top seed with Peng, she won the gold medal in a walkover when the second team from Tianjin, Xu Yifan and Zheng Saisai withdrew because of Zheng's injury from her semifinal singles match.
Zhang entered the Suzhou Ladies Open as the fourth seed, and lost to the unranked Zheng Saisai (No. 195) in the quarterfinal. At the Cincinnati Open doubles event, she lost with Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round to Vera Dushevina and Sílvia Soler Espinosa. Then, she entered the qualifying event at New Haven. After beating the 12th seeded Johanna Larsson in the first round, she lost to eventual qualifier Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the second round. Seeded fifth at the qualifying event for the US Open, she defeated Julie Coin in the first round but lost to CoCo Vandeweghe (No. 192) in second. She entered the doubles tournament with Yaroslava Shvedova losing to Alla Kudryavtseva & Anastasia Rodionova in the first round. At the ITF event in Sanya, China as the second seed, she lost to Zheng Saisai in straight sets in the first round. Zhang entered the Guangzhou International Open as a wildcard, winning her first WTA Tour singles title over qualifier Vania King (No. 124). She also entered the doubles tournament with Shvedova losing in the first round to the fourth-seeded team of Tímea Babos & Olga Govortsova. At the Ningbo International Open, she lost in the final round to the top seeded Bojana Jovanovski. She entered the doubles competition with Chan Yung-jan winning the title over the fourth-seeded team of Irina Buryachok & Oksana Kalashnikova. As a wildcard at the China Open in Beijing, she lost to tenth seed Roberta Vinci, in three sets in the second round. She received a wildcard in the doubles tournament with Shvedova, losing to Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie in the first round in three sets.
Zhang played at the Japan Women's Open in Osaka losing to the sixth seed Madison Keys in the second round. She entered the doubles tournament with Sam Stosur losing in straight sets to the second seeded team of Kristina Mladenovic & Flavia Pennetta in the final. At the Nanjing Ladies Open, as the third seed, she won her third title of the year beating the fourth seed Ayumi Morita in match shortened by retirement after one set. Zhang also reached the final in doubles with Shvedova as the top-seeded team losing to Misaki Doi and Xu Yifan, in straight sets. She reached No. 51 as a career-high in singles on 4 November 2013. She entered the Taipei Open on carpet as the third seed, and lost in the first round to Katarzyna Piter (No. 122), retiring after first game in the second set being down a set. and played in the doubles competition with Kimiko Date-Krumm as the top-seeded team; they lost to the team of Misaki Doi & Hsieh Shu-ying in the first round, in three sets.
2014: Mixed results Zhang started the season at the Shenzhen Open as the sixth seed losing to Chan Yung-jan in the first round, and played in the doubles tournament with Zheng Saisai as the top seeds, losing in the quarterfinal round to Monica Niculescu & Klára Zakopalová. Next, in the Hobart International, she lost to the seventh-seeded Zakopalová in the second round. She reached the doubles final with Lisa Raymond as the second seeded team losing again to Niculescu & Zakopalová in a match decided in a super tiebreak. Zhang's winless streak in the Grand Slam tournaments reached nine as she had a disappointing opening-round loss to Mona Barthel in the Australian Open.