Wang Xiyu (Chinese: 王曦雨; pinyin: Wáng Xīyǔ; Mandarin pronunciation:[wǎŋ ɕí ỳ]ⓘ; born 28 March 2001) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 49 on 9 January 2023, and a doubles ranking of No. 98 on 19 August 2024.[1]
Wang made her ITF Women's Circuit debut in 2016 at the $10k event in Anning as a wildcard player. Despite the loss in her first match, the following week she reached semifinal at the $10k event in the same city.[1] In October 2017, she made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2017 Tianjin Open, where she also recorded her first win over Danka Kovinić.[4]
2018: Improvement
Season of 2018 was her breakthrough. In the early season, she reached quarterfinal at the $60k Burnie International, and soon after, she played at the Premier MandatoryMiami Open but failed to qualify. In April, she recorded her first win on the WTA Challenger Tour, defeating Naomi Broady in order to reach second round of the Zhengzhou Open. In August, she won her first ITF singles title, defeating Barbora Štefková in the final of $25k event in Nonthaburi. She then finished as runner-up at another $25k event in Nonthaburi and won the title at the $25k event in Tsukuba.[1] Her last tournament of the season was the Wuhan Open, where she made her debut at Premier 5-level tournaments. There, she recorded a win over wildcard player Bernarda Pera,[5] before she lost in a tense match against Daria Kasatkina.[6]
2019: Major, WTA Premier and top 150 debuts
Wang reached another quarterfinal at the Burnie International. In March, she made her debut at the Premier Mandatory level tournaments as a wildcard, reaching the second round of the Miami Open.[1] There, she also recorded her first win on that level, defeating Monica Puig in the first round.[4] In April, she reached final at the $25k event in Osaka and one month later won her first bigger title at the $60k event in La Bisbal d'Emporda, defeating Dalma Gálfi in the final.[1][4] In June, she reached quarterfinals at the $100k Manchester Trophy.[1] Unlike the first three majors of the year, Wang reached the main draw at the US Open, but lost to Kirsten Flipkens in the first round.[4][7] Later, she had first-round losses at the Wuhan Open and China Open, but ended one round further at the Tianjin Open.[1]
2020-22: First WTA Tour semifinal & major win, top 50
She reached a new career-high singles ranking of world No. 103, on 9 May 2022,[12] and made her top 100 debut a month later on 13 June 2022, after reaching her first WTA Challenger final at the Open Internacional de Valencia.
She made her debut at Wimbledon where she lost in the first round to another debutante at this major, Jule Niemeier.
At the Budapest Grand Prix, she defeated top seed Barbora Krejčíková in the first round and overcame Ana Bogdan in the longest straight-sets match of the year, in 2 hours and 45 minutes in the second round to move to the quarterfinals.[13] As a result, she recorded a new career-high of No. 93, on 18 July 2022.
She ended the year ranked in the top 50 on 7 November 2022.
2023: WTA 1000 fourth round, maiden WTA Tour title
She scored back-to-back wins at the WTA 1000-level against top-30 players Bianca Andreescu and Irina-Camelia Begu at Madrid and Rome. Then, in Rome, she defeated Taylor Townsend, the vanquisher of world No. 3, Jessica Pegula, by saving match points being a break down. With the win, she reached her maiden WTA 1000 fourth round, before losing to countrywoman and 22nd seed Zheng Qinwen.[16]
(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.
^Edition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
^ abThe first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 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 as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.