Wang Zhiyi

Wang Zhiyi (; born 29 April 2000) is a Chinese badminton player. She was two-time Asian Champions winning the title in 2022 and 2024. She was part of China winning team in the 2020 and 2024 Uber Cup, as well at the 2021 and 2023 Sudirman Cup. Capture her first BWF World Tour title in the 2019 U.S. Open, she later reached her highest ranking of world number 2 in the women's singles on 19 November 2024.

Career

Early life and junior career Wang started her career as a badminton player by training in Jingzhou sports school. She went to the Hubei provincial training centre in 2009, and was selected to join the team in 2013. In 2016, Wang joined the national team, and became part of the national second team in 2017.

2018 Wang has achieved a number of achievements in her career in the junior competitions. Wang emerged victory in the girls' singles at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships, and also helped the national team to clinch the mixed team title. She again had to accept defeat to Goh in the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships, making her have to be satisfied with a bronze medal.

2019 In the 2019 season, Wang get into her first BWF World Tour final in Canada Open, losing to An Se-young. She then won the U.S. Open as her first World Tour title whilst grabbing few more international tournaments such as Austrian Open, Belarus International, and second consecutive Malaysia International title. Wang also add two more World Tour win with Indonesia Masters and Dutch Open.

2022–2023 2022 was not a good season for Wang as she did not won a single world tour, only making into the final in Indonesia Open and Singapore Open. Despite that, she won the women's singles title at the 2022 Asian Championships, which is the biggest title of her career.

2024 Wang is set to shake up the women's singles competition in 2024, where she reached seven finals, and won six titles including her second Asia Championships title by defeating her senior compatriot Chen Yufei in the final. Malaysia Masters, Denmark Open, and clinched her first ever BWF World Tour Super 1000 in the home soil China Open. She then closed the season as a champion in the BWF World Tour Finals. Wang's defeat in the final was at the Korea Open, when she gave a walkover to Kim Ga-eun due to injury that she suffered. Wang also part of China winning team in the Uber Cup. She reached a career high of world number 2 in this season.

2025 Started the 2025 season as world number 2, Wang reached the finals in the Malaysia Open losing to An Se-young in straight game. In March, Wang managed to secure a spots in the final of All England Open but fall short again to An Se-young, this time in a grueling three sets. Despite losing all her matches in Sudirman Cup, China gained their 14th title in that competition.

Her short title drought since the season's finals in previous year ended after she managed to defend her Malaysia Masters title, this time against Han Yue. Wang advanced to the final again next week in Singapore Open but lost it against Chen Yufei. Wang again had a tough luck the next week where she lost the final of Indonesia Open against An in another 3 sets match when she faltered after losing the 17–10 lead in second sets before An finished it well in the third. In Japan Open, Wang lost to An for the fourth time in a year, outpowered in a straight sets in the process. In the next week, Wang capitalized her good form and defended her China Open title and won her first Super 1000 title of the year in a dominant win against Han Yue.

In 2025 BWF World Championships, Wang lost in the round of 16 to former 2019 champion, P. V. Sindhu. Two weeks later, Wang recovered and won the Hong Kong Open against Han Yue in their third final altogether in 2025. In October, Wang made the final again in Denmark Open but failed to defend her championship in the previous years. Wang lost again in French Open to An on the next week after. At the end of season, Wang failed to defend her World Tour Final title the previous year, losing out to An again in thrilling three sets. Wang concluded the season with an impressive 11 finals.

2026 After ending a spectacular 2025, Wang's losing streak against An Se-young continues as she was beaten at the season opener in the Malaysia Open final which was a repeat of last year's final. The next week in the India Open semi-final however, she secured her second victory over fellow compatriot, Chen Yufei to qualify for the final in the India Open for the first time. Her luck in the final did not change as she lost against An again for six consecutive titles since last year Denmark Open. She returned in March at the German Open where she marched towards the final but lost at the hands of her young compatriot, Han Qianxi in a tight two games match. The next week, Wang ended her nine final match losing streak against An Se-young at the All England Open in straight games, marking a significant win for her and the Chinese community. Onto the next month, Wang aimed for her third Asian Championships title but lost out again to An Se-young in the final, which would marked as the 20th times she lost to her in their career head-to-head matchups. She failed to reach the finals of the 2026 Indonesia, Japan, and China Open, causing her ranking to slip to 3. In the World Championships, Wang managed to avenge her loss from the previous year against P. V. Sindhu who was on home soil in 3 games. She managed to reach the semis where she lost to An Se-young, but this was the furthest Wang had ever managed to reach in a World Championship.

Achievements

World Championships Women's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref

is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Women's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result Ref 2019 Canada Open Super 100 An Se-young 15–21, 20–22 Runner-up 2019 U.S. Open Super 300 Kim Ga-eun 21–18, 21–19 Winner 2019 Indonesia Masters Super 100 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 20–22, 21–15, 21–13 Winner 2019 Dutch Open Super 100 Evgeniya Kosetskaya 21–14, 21–18 Winner 2022 Indonesia Open Super 1000 Tai Tzu-ying 23–21, 6–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2022 Singapore Open Super 500 P. V. Sindhu 9–21, 21–11, 15–21 Runner-up 2023 Arctic Open Super 500 Han Yue 21–16, 20–22, 12–21 Runner-up 2024 Indonesia Masters Super 500 Nozomi Okuhara 21–14, 21–13 Winner 2024 Malaysia Masters Super 500 P. V. Sindhu 16–21, 21–5, 21–16 Winner 2024 Korea Open Super 500 Kim Ga-eun Walkover Runner-up 2024 China Open Super 1000 Tomoka Miyazaki 21–17, 21–15 Winner 2024 Denmark Open Super 750 An Se-young 21–10, 21–12 Winner 2024 BWF World Tour Finals World Tour Finals Han Yue 19–21, 21–19, 21–11 Winner 2025 Malaysia Open Super 1000 An Se-young 17–21, 7–21 Runner-up 2025 All England Open Super 1000 An Se-young 21–13, 18–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2025 Malaysia Masters Super 500 Han Yue 13–21, 21–13, 21–18 Winner 2025 Singapore Open Super 750 Chen Yufei 11–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2025 Indonesia Open Super 1000 An Se-young 21–13, 19–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2025 Japan Open Super 750 An Se-young 12–21, 10–21 Runner-up 2025 China Open Super 1000 Han Yue 21–8, 21–13 Winner 2025 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Han Yue 21–14, 24–22 Winner 2025 Denmark Open Super 750 An Se-young 5–21, 22–24 Runner-up 2025 French Open Super 750 An Se-young 13–21, 7–21 Runner-up 2025 BWF World Tour Finals World Tour Finals An Se-young 13–21, 21–18, 10–21 Runner-up 2026 Malaysia Open Super 1000 An Se-young 15–21, 22–24 Runner-up 2026 India Open Super 750 An Se-young 13–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2026 German Open Super 300 Han Qianxi 19–21, 20–22 Runner-up 2026 All England Open Super 1000 An Se-young 21–15, 21–19 Winner

BWF International Challenge/Series (4 titles, 1 runner-up) Women's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2017 China International Cai Yanyan 9–11, 13–10, 11–9, 7–11 Runner-up 2018 Malaysia International Lee Ying Ying 21–10, 22–24, 21–14 Winner 2019 Austrian Open Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21–18, 21–10 Winner 2019 Belarus International Zhang Yiman 18–21, 21–9, 21–8 Winner 2019 Malaysia International Asuka Takahashi 12–21, 21–17, 21–16 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament

BWF Junior International (4 titles) Girls' singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2017 Korea Junior International Wei Yaxin 21–12, 21–12 Winner 2018 Dutch Junior International Wei Yaxin 21–15, 21–5 Winner 2018 Jaya Raya Junior International Zhou Meng 21–15, 21–16 Winner 2018 Banthongyord Junior International Phittayaporn Chaiwan 21–19, 21–16 Winner BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament BWF Junior International Challenge tournament BWF Junior International Series tournament BWF Junior Future Series tournament

Record against selected opponents Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 23 December 2025.

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Chen Yufei 11 2 10 –8 Han Yue 17 14 3 +11 He Bingjiao 8 5 3 +2 Li Xuerui 1 0 1 –1 Zhang Yiman 12 8 4 +4 Tai Tzu-ying 2 0 2 –2 Saina Nehwal 2 2 0 +2 P. V. Sindhu 6 3 3 0 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 7 4 3 +1

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Putri Kusuma Wardani 7 7 0 +7 Aya Ohori 9 5 4 +1 Nozomi Okuhara 4 4 0 +4 Akane Yamaguchi 13 7 6 +1 An Se-young 23 5 18 -13 Sung Ji-hyun 2 2 0 +2 Carolina Marín 3 1 2 –1 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 2 2 0 +2 Ratchanok Intanon 11 5 6 –1