2021: WTA debut, top 150

In January 2021, she won the Tennis Future Hamburg, Germany where she defeated Linda Fruhvirtová in the final of the $25k event, held at the venue of the Hamburger Tennis-Verband.^[5]

On 20 June 2021, she won the final of the $60k Macha Lake Open in Staré Splavy, defeating Aleksandra Krunić in two sets.^[6]

Zheng made her WTA Tour debut at the Palermo Ladies Open, where she also recorded her first win defeating second seed Liudmila Samsonova in the first round.^[7]

2022: Major debut & fourth round, first WTA Tour final & top 25 debut

At the Melbourne Summer Set 1, she reached her first WTA Tour semifinal after beating Mai Hontama, former No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, and Ana Konjuh, respectively.^[8] She lost her semifinal match to second seed Simona Halep, in straight sets.^[9]

A week after Melbourne Summer Set, Zheng qualified for her first major event,^[10][11] at the Australian Open where she defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round.^[12] In the second, she lost to fifth seed Maria Sakkari, in straight sets.^[13] As a result, she reached the top 100 at world No. 80, on 31 January 2022.

At the French Open, she defeated Maryna Zanevska on her debut at this major.^[14] Next she beat former French Open champion and 19th seed, Simona Halep, her first top-20 win, to move to the third round of a major for the first time in her career.^[15] She moved into the fourth round after Alizé Cornet's retirement. On 30 May 2022, she lost to top seed and world No. 1, Iga Świątek of Poland, in the fourth round, referring to menstrual cramps as a contributing factor. Zheng was still happy about her performance and glad that she was able to play against the world's number one.^[16] As a result, she moved to a new career-high of No. 54, on 6 June 2022, and reached the top 50, at world No. 46, a week later when she won her first WTA 125 title at the Open Internacional de Valencia defeating compatriot Wang Xiyu.

She debuted at Wimbledon and defeated Sloane Stephens in the first round.^[17] She won her second match at this major against Greet Minnen, before falling to the eventual champion, Elena Rybakina, in the third round.

In August, Zheng defeated fifth seed Ons Jabeur by retirement for her first top-10 win in the second round and Bianca Andreescu in the third round of the Canadian Open to enter the first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her career, in which she lost to Karolína Plíšková, in three sets. At the US Open, Zheng defeated Jeļena Ostapenko in the first round and Anastasia Potapova in the second. She was beaten in the third round by Jule Niemeier, in straight sets.

At the Pan Pacific Open in Japan, she became the first Chinese teenager to ever reach a WTA Tour final which she lost to Liudmila Samsonova. Her win over top seed Paula Badosa in the second round was her first completed top-10 win and second overall (after Jabeur in Toronto). She also became the second teenager to make a WTA 500-level or higher final in the season after Coco Gauff. As a result, she reached the top 30 at world No. 28, on 26 September 2022, becoming the first Chinese teenager to do so.^[18]

2023: Major & clay WTA 1000 quarterfinals, first two WTA Tour titles, top 15

Zheng began the season with a win over former world No. 2 player, Anett Kontaveit, in the first round of the Adelaide International, saving match points in the third set to triumph in a final set tiebreak.^[19] She lost to Victoria Azarenka in the second round, and also reached the second round at the Australian Open.

On her debut at the Italian Open, she defeated Alizé Cornet, Anna Bondár, and compatriot Wang Xiyu to reach the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament for the second time in her career, and her first tour-level quarterfinal on clay. As a result, she reached No. 19 in the WTA rankings, becoming the fifth Chinese player ever to break into the top 20 – the first four in order of career-high ranking were Li Na (No. 2), Wang Qiang (12), Peng Shuai (14) and Zheng Jie (15).^[20][21] At the French Open, as the 19th seed, she beat Tamara Zidanšek in the first round, before losing to Yulia Putintseva in the second.

Zheng's grass season yielded disappointing results, as she lost all three singles matches that she played. In Berlin, she lost to Veronika Kudermetova, in Eastbourne to Jessica Pegula, and in Wimbledon, as the 24th seed, she lost to Katerina Siniaková.

Zheng received a wildcard into her next tournament in Palermo. As the second seed, she double bagelled Sara Errani, then beat Diane Parry, Emma Navarro and Mayar Sherif to reach her second tour-level final in which she beat Jasmine Paolini to win her first WTA Tour title.^[22]

As the 23rd seed, Zheng defeated Nadia Podoroska and Kaia Kanepi to reach the third round of the US Open, before beating Lucia Bronzetti in a three-set thriller to enter her second major fourth round. She upset fifth seed and defending finalist, Ons Jabeur, to advance to her maiden major quarterfinal, losing there to world No. 2 and eventual finalist, Aryna Sabalenka.^[23]

She captured her second WTA title on home-soil at the WTA 500 2023 Zhengzhou Open defeating Barbora Krejcikova.^[24][25] Following reaching the final at the 2023 WTA Elite Trophy where she defeated compatriot Lin Zhu in the semifinals, she entered the top 15 in the rankings.^[26]

Singles

Current through the 2023 WTA Elite Trophy.

Doubles

Current through the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.

WTA Elite Trophy

Singles: 1 (runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	2023	WTA Elite Trophy, China	Hard	Beatriz Haddad Maia	6–7(11–13), 6–7(4–7)

Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 2022	Pan Pacific Open, Japan	WTA 500	Hard	Liudmila Samsonova	5–7, 5–7
Win	1–1	Jul 2023	Palermo Ladies Open, Italy	WTA 250	Clay	Jasmine Paolini	6–4, 1–6, 6–1
Win	2–1	Oct 2023	Zhengzhou Open, China	WTA 500	Hard	Barbora Krejčíková	2–6, 6–2, 6–4
Loss	2–2	Oct 2023	WTA Elite Trophy, China	Elite	Hard	Beatriz Haddad Maia	6–7(11–13), 6–7(4–7)

Singles: 1 (title)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jun 2022	WTA 125 Valencia, Spain	Clay	Wang Xiyu	6–4, 4–6, 6–3

Singles: 8 (8 titles)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 2020	ITF Cordenons, Italy	15,000	Clay	Mira Antonitsch	6–1, 6–0
Win	2–0	Aug 2020	ITF Marbella, Spain	25,000	Clay	Alina Charaeva	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
Win	3–0	Sep 2020	ITF Frýdek-Místek, Czech Republic	25,000	Clay	Gabriela Talabă	3–6, 6–4, 6–0
Win	4–0	Dec 2020	ITF Selva Gardena, Italy	25,000	Hard (i)	Lea Bošković	6–7(0), 6–0, 6–3
Win	5–0	Jan 2021	ITF Hamburg, Germany	25,000	Hard (i)	Linda Fruhvirtová	6–2, 6–3
Win	6–0	Jun 2021	ITF Staré Splavy, Czech Republic	60,000	Clay	Aleksandra Krunić	7–6(5), 6–3
Win	7–0	Nov 2021	ITF Funchal, Portugal	25,000	Hard	Martina Trevisan	6–3, 7–5
Win	8–0	Jan 2022	ITF Orlando, United States	60,000	Hard	Christina McHale	6–0, 6–1

Junior Circuit finals

Singles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runner–ups)

Legend
Grade A (0–2)
Grade 1 (3–1)
Grade 2 (1–0)
Grade 3 (0–0)
Grade 4 (1–0)
Grade 5 (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 2016	ITF Melaka, Malaysia	Grade 4	Hard	Lee Yang	6–4, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Jun 2017	ITF Offenbach, Germany	Grade 1	Clay	Victoria Flores	6–3, 2–6, 1–6
Win	2–1	Nov 2017	ITF Chuncheon, South Korea	Grade 2	Hard	Joanna Garland	6–2, 6–2
Win	3–1	Mar 2018	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	Grade 1	Hard	Yuki Naito	6–3, 3–6, 7–5
Win	4–1	May 2018	ITF Santa Croce, Italy	Grade 1	Clay	Stefania Rogozinska Dzik	5–7, 6–1, 6–2
Loss	4–2	Oct 2018	Osaka Mayor's Cup, Japan	Grade A	Hard	Clara Tauson	1–6, 0–6
Win	5–2	Dec 2018	ITF Bradenton, United States	Grade 1	Clay	Elizabeth Mandlik	6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–2
Loss	5–3	Dec 2018	ITF Plantation, United States	Grade A	Clay	Coco Gauff	1–6, 6–3, 4–6

Record against top 10 players

• She has a 6–10 (37.5%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

Result	W–L	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	Rank
2022
Loss	0–1	Maria Sakkari	No. 8	Australian Open, Australia	Hard	2R	1–6, 4–6	No. 108
Loss	0–2	Iga Świątek	No. 1	French Open, France	Clay	4R	7–6(7–5), 0–6, 2–6	No. 74
Win	1–2	Ons Jabeur	No. 5	Canadian Open, Canada	Hard	2R	6–1, 2–1 ret.	No. 51
Win	2–2	Paula Badosa	No. 4	Pan Pacific Open, Japan	Hard	2R	6–3, 6–2	No. 36
Loss	2–3	Iga Świątek	No. 1	San Diego Open, United States	Hard	2R	4–6, 6–4, 1–6	No. 28
2023
Win	3–3	Daria Kasatkina	No. 8	Abu Dhabi Open, U.A.E.	Hard	QF	6–1, 6–2	No. 29
Loss	3–4	Maria Sakkari	No. 7	Qatar Ladies Open, Qatar	Hard	1R	2–6, 6–3, 3–6	No. 24
Loss	3–5	Iga Świątek	No. 1	Stuttgart Open, Germany	Clay (i)	2R	1–6, 4–6	No. 25
Loss	3–6	Jessica Pegula	No. 4	Eastbourne International, UK	Grass	1R	3–6, 4–6	No. 24
Loss	3–7	Iga Świątek	No. 1	Cincinnati Open, United States	Hard	3R	6–3, 1–6, 1–6	No. 24
Win	4–7	Ons Jabeur	No. 5	US Open, United States	Hard	4R	6–2, 6–4	No. 23
Loss	4–8	Aryna Sabalenka	No. 2	US Open, United States	Hard	QF	1–6, 4–6	No. 23
Loss	4–9	Elena Rybakina	No. 5	China Open, China	Hard	1R	1–6, 2–6	No. 23
Win	5–9	Maria Sakkari	No. 6	Zhengzhou Open, China	Hard	2R	7–6(7–2), 6–3	No. 24
2024
Win	6–9	Markéta Vondroušová	No. 7	United Cup, Australia	Hard	RR	6–1, 2–6, 6–1	No. 15
Loss	6–10	Iga Świątek	No. 1	United Cup, Australia	Hard	QF	2–6, 3–6	No. 15

Double bagel matches ^{[lower-alpha 7]}

Result	Year	W–L	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Rank	Rd	ZQR
Win	2018	1–0	ITF Nanjing, China	15,000	Hard	Zhang Ziyu	n/a	Q1	n/a
Win	2021	2–0	Open Saint-Gaudens, France	60,000	Clay	Ekaterina Makarova	No. 544	Q1	No. 254
Win	2023	3–0	Adelaide International 2, Australia	WTA 500	Hard	Mia Repac	No. 842	Q1	No. 28
Win	2023	4–0	Palermo Ladies Open, Italy	WTA 250	Clay	Sara Errani	No. 112	1R	No. 26