At the age of 22, Yan Zi won her only individual title on the WTA Tour in Guangzhou in 2005 . In January 2006 she reached the top 100 of the tennis world rankings for the first time . In February 2007 it fell back to rank 262, only to return to the top 100 after very good results for the rest of the year; mainly because of her good performance at the Canada Masters , where she only lost 3: 6 and 0: 6 to the former world number one Justine Henin in the semifinals . In May 2008, Yan Zi reached 40th place in the WTA world rankings.
She got better results in doubles. In the double world rankings she reached her highest position in July 2006 with place 4. With her (until 2008) constant double partner Zheng Jie , she won two Grand Slam tournaments in 2006 , the Australian Open and the Wimbledon Championships . The 2006 season was her most successful on the tour to date with a total of six titles (including the two Grand Slam victories).
2007 was hardly any worse. She won six double titles, including the one in the Masters series tournament in Charleston . At the US Open in 2008, she made it to the quarter-finals with Zheng Jie, with whom she has already won eleven titles on the tour. There they lost to the eventual tournament winners Cara Black and Liezel Huber .
In May 2011, she was eliminated twice in the individual qualification. In Rome , she played for the last time in her first round defeat in doubles. Because on January 17, 2012, Yan Zi became a mother. She returned to the tour in September of the same year, but since 2013 she has only competed in doubles. Her last professional match so far, she played in August 2013 at a Challenger tournament in China. Since August 2014 it is no longer included in the world rankings.
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Yan is the family name here, Zi is the first name.