Zheng Saisai orZheng Sai-Sai (Chinese:郑赛赛; born 5 February 1994) is aChinese tennis player. She has a best singles ranking of 34, achieved March 2020, and a career-high doubles ranking of No. world 15, achieved on 11 July 2016. In her career, she has won one singles title in 2019 (at thePremier event inSilicon Valley), and six doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She also reached the final of the2019 French Open in doubles with compatriotDuan Yingying.
In addition, she won three singles and three doubles titles atWTA 125 tournaments, as well as twelve singles and nine doubles titles on theITF Women's Circuit.
Playing forChina Fed Cup team, Zheng has a win–loss record of 11–7 as of September 2024.
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 areAustralian Open andWimbledon. Zheng is coached by Alan Ma (马伟开). Her favorite shot is drop shot.
Her father is ofTibetan ethnicity. She also has a Tibetan name,Suodian Zhuoma (Chinese:索典卓玛).[2]
Her nickname isJaguar, for her footwork and defence.
Zheng began playing on theITF 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 inJiangmen in February. In July 2009, she played her first ITF singles final and also win the trophy, at the $10k Shenzhen, after defeatingSabina 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, alongsideTian Ran. She won one singles title, at the $10k Taipei in October 2010.
In September 2011, Zheng made herWTA Tour debut in both singles and doubles at theGuangzhou International Open. There she won her first doubles title, partneringHsieh Su-wei and defeatingChan Chin-wei andHan Xinyun in straight sets. In singles, she lost in the first round. Week later, she made her debut at thePremier MandatoryChina Open as awildcard player only in singles, but lost in round one. During the year, she also performed on the ITF Circuit in doubles, winning the $100kNingbo Challenger alongsideTetiana 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 the2012 French Open, Zheng made her doublesmajor 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 ofWimbledon, and later of theUS Open. In July 2012, she won her first singles match at the Premier-levelStanford Classic, defeatingAyumi Morita in the first round. For the second year-in-a-row, she played at theChina 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 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.
Zheng had a strong start of the year, reaching Australian Open doubles semifinal as her first significant major result. In that semifinal match, she partnered withVarvara Lepchenko, and they were defeated by AustraliansAshleigh Barty andCasey 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 duoSara Errani andRoberta Vinci, in straight sets.[3] 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 twoWTA 125 quarterfinals, in Nanjing and Taipei, while at both those tournaments she reached semifinals in doubles. She also reached semifinal of the International-levelJapan 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.[4] 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-levelStanford Classic in doubles event in August. That was her first final and title from higher-level tournament. Along with that, in October she wonTianjin Open, also in doubles. In singles, her most recognized result of the year was in the first week of the year, at theShenzhen Open, where she reached semifinals.
In the second half of 2015, she reached two quarterfinals, at theJapan Women's Open andGuangzhou International 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 the2015 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 her career-high singles ranking of world No. 34 on 2 March 2020, following a second quarterfinal showing at theQatar Ladies Open with a win over world No. 6 and seventh seed,Kiki Bertens.[7]
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 theMiami Open and the quarterfinals for a second time at theMadrid Open withWang Xinyu.[citation needed] She also reached the semifinals for the first time at the next WTA 1000, theItalian Open, again with Wang Xinyu, upsetting top seeds Hsieh/Mertens to face third seeds Gauff/Routliffe for a spot in the final.[8]Following her sixth title at the2024 Berlin Ladies Open with Wang Xinyu,[9] she returned to the top 75 in the doubles rankings, raising more than 50 positions on 24 June 2024.[citation needed]
Using protected ranking, she participated in her third Olympics inParis in doubles with Wang Xinyu.[citation needed]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
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.[11]
^WTA Tournament of Champions was held from 2009 to 2014, when WTA Elite Trophy replaced it.
^abThe firstPremier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between theDubai Tennis Championships and theQatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified asWTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.