Wang Qiang (; ; born 14 January 1992) is an inactive Chinese tennis player. She has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, one WTA 125 singles title, and 13 singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. Her best performance at a major tournament came at the 2019 US Open where she reached the quarterfinals. On 9 September 2019, Wang reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 12, becoming the second-highest ranked Chinese tennis player in history after Li Na. Alongside Li Na, Zheng Jie, Peng Shuai, Zhang Shuai and Zheng Qinwen, Wang is one of only six Chinese tennis players to have reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.
Career
Wang was born in Tianjin. At age nine, she started playing tennis. That year, she became the promotion player for the Tianjin National Tennis Center. For two years consecutively (2006, 2007), she won the Junior's Tennis Championship in China. She officially started touring the ITF Women's Circuit in Japan as of 2007.
In February 2010, she was a main-draw player at the AOAO Sports charity themed 'Fiji Tennis Invitation Classis' [FTIC] created by Ademola Oduwole on Denarau Island in Fiji aimed at promoting girls sports. She defeated Christina Visico of the Philippines in the finals to win her $2,000 purse and a $4,000 Chris Aire watch donated by the Hollywood Luxury watch designer
Wang achieved her first big WTA Tour win at the 2013 Malaysian Open where, after qualifying, she beat top seed and world No. 10, Caroline Wozniacki in the first round.
She made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2014 US Open from the qualifying tournament, and defeated Paula Kania from Poland in the first round 6–2, 6–0, before losing to Australian Casey Dellacqua in the second round.
In 2016, Wang's best results came at the major tournaments, reaching the second round of the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open. She also competed in singles at the 2016 Summer Olympics, but lost in the first round to two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In 2017, Wang reached her first quarterfinal at a Premier-level tournament, winning three straight set matches in Dubai (a Premier 5 tournament) before losing to Anastasija Sevastova. She finished the year ranked inside the top 50 for the first time, at No. 45 in the world.
2018: Asian Games gold medalist, two WTA Tour titles, world No. 20
Wang got off to a very slow start in the 2018 season, winning just one main draw match in her first four tournaments. She then reached the fourth round in Indian Wells, defeating former top-10 players Timea Bacsinszky and Kristina Mladenovic en route, before falling to world No. 1, Simona Halep. Wang struggled in her next tournaments, and her ranking dropped to No. 91 in the world.
She then reached her first quarterfinal of the year in Strasbourg, losing to top seed Ashleigh Barty. At the French Open, Wang upset the ninth seed and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the first round, then defeated Petra Martić to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first time. However, she was then beaten by Yulia Putintseva. The only grass-court tournament she played was in Wimbledon, where she lost in the opening round to Zheng Saisai.
Wang won the golden medal in singles at the Asian Games defeating Jeong Su-nam, Gozal Ainitdinova, Aldila Sutjiadi, Liang En-shuo, and finally compatriot Zhang Shuai in the final.
Wang also had a great run in the Asian Swing. She won her first WTA Tour tile in July at Jiangxi, where she defeated Zheng Saisai in the final. After reaching the third round at the US Open before falling to Elina Svitolina, Wang won her second title of the year (and career) in Guangzhou, where she didn't drop more than four games in each match throughout the tournament. As a result of her Guangzhou triumph, she reached a new career-high ranking of world No. 34 and replaced Zhang Shuai as the highest-ranked Chinese player.
The next week, she competed at the Premier-5 tournament in Wuhan, where she defeated Maria Sakkari, eighth seed Karolína Plíšková, and Daria Gavrilova in the first three matches. In the quarterfinals, she defeated 2016 Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig in straight sets to reach the semifinals, but was forced to retire from the match against Anett Kontaveit due to injury. She became the first ever Chinese player to reach the semifinals at the tournament, and reached another new career-high ranking of No. 28.