2009/2010 season The
2009–10 season was Zhang's first professional season on the tour. His first match was a 2–5 defeat to
Craig Steadman in the first qualifying round of the
Shanghai Masters. His first wins came over
Ben Woollaston (5–3) and
Jin Long (5–2) during qualifying for the
Grand Prix. He was then eliminated by Welshman
Dominic Dale 0–5. This meant that he would be only the fourth
Chinese player to play at
The Crucible and the lowest ranked player (number 71) to qualify for tournament. He is also one of only a few players to make it to
The Crucible in their debut season. This result denied Walden a top 16 place for the following season. Zhang was drawn against seven-time World Snooker champion
Stephen Hendry in the first round of the event. Zhang was 0–4 down in the match but rallied to trail only 4–5 after the first session. Hendry increased his lead to 7–5 before Zhang won four frames in a row to be on the cusp of a famous win. He wasted a chance to take the match in the next frame and went on to lose 9–10. Zhang ended the season ranked world number 71.
2010/2011 season Zhang began the
2010–11 season well by defeating
Jak Jones 5–4,
Paul Davies 5–1 and
Stuart Pettman 5–3 to reach the final qualifying round of the
Shanghai Masters. He faced
Matthew Stevens and was beaten 2–5. However, he could only win more match in qualifying for the remaining six ranking events, concluding with a 6–10 loss to
Andrew Pagett in the first round of
World Championship qualifying. He therefore entered Q School in an attempt to win back his place and was one match away from doing so in the first event, but lost 1–4 to
David Grace. He couldn't qualify from the remaining two events and did not have a place on tour next season. Zhang was beaten by the same scoreline by
Stephen Maguire in the next round to finish a lowly 115th on the Order of Merit. Zhang lost in the final of the
ACBS Asian Snooker Championship 2–5 to
Hossein Vafaei, but as Vafaei had already qualified for the main snooker tour, Zhang received a place for the
2012–13 and
2013–14 seasons.
2012/2013 season Zhang lost in the first round of qualifying for the opening three ranking events of the season. He played in all three of the new minor-ranking
Asian Players Tour Championship events, reaching two quarter-finals where he lost to
Michael White 3–4 and
Li Hang 2–4 respectively. His first win in a ranking event match this season was a 6–5 success against
Li Yan in
International Championship qualifying, but he lost 3–6 to
Alfie Burden in the next round. He finished the year ranked world number 77.
2013/2014 season Zhang won three consecutive matches 5–4 to qualify for the second ranking event of the season, the
Australian Goldfields Open. He beat world number 20
Andrew Higginson 5–1 in the first round to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in his career, where he was defeated 5–1 by world number two
Mark Selby. Zhang also qualified for the
Indian Open and beat
Alan McManus 4–1 in the first round, before losing 4–3 to
Michael White. Zhang was relegated from the main tour at the end of the season as he was placed 77th in the world rankings, outside of the top 64 who remain. In his final game of the first
2014 Q School event he made a match-winning break of 54 in the deciding frame against Jamie Clarke to edge it 4–3, having been 3–0 up. The result earned Zhang a fresh two-year main tour card for the
2014–15 and
2015–16 seasons.
2014/2015 season Zhang played a curtailed schedule of events in the first half of the
2014–15 season. He met
Ali Carter, who was playing in his first ranking match since having treatment for lung cancer, in the first round of the
UK Championship and came back from 5–3 down to beat him 6–5. Zhang lost 6–5 to
Rory McLeod in the second round. He was whitewashed 4–0 by
Gary Wilson in the first round of the
Welsh Open and narrowly lost 5–4 to
Peter Ebdon in the first round of the
China Open. Zhang defeated
Anthony Hamilton 10–3,
Mark Joyce 10–9 and won the last three frames against
Liang Wenbo to beat him 10–9 and qualify for the
World Championship. Zhang won the first three frames of the next session which included a 132 break, but Perry went on to complete a 10–4 win.
2015/2016 season Zhang defeated
Liang Wenbo 4–3 to advance to the quarter-finals of the
Haining Open, but lost 4–3 to
Ding Junhui. He won his first professional event the General Cup Qualifying Event. He beat
Cao Yupeng 5–4 in the final. This was an invitation event with the winner taking the eighth and final place in the
General Cup. He would go on to reach the semi-finals of the event, where he was beaten 6–3 by
Marco Fu. Zhang overcame
Robert Milkins and
Dechawat Poomjaeng both 5–4 to qualify for the
German Masters and he whitewashed
Alfie Burden 5–0 in the opening round to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time in his career. His run was ended with a 5–1 defeat to
Judd Trump. Zhang qualified for the
World Championship for the second year in a row with wins over Bratislav Krustev,
Mark Davis and
Zhou Yuelong. Zhang was just outside the top 64 in the world rankings at 65, but earned a new two-year tour card by finishing joint fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
2016/2017 season Zhang comfortably beat
Dominic Dale 5–1 to play in the
World Open where he defeated
Peter Ebdon 5–1 and
Judd Trump 5–2 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the third time, but he was thrashed 5–0 by
David Gilbert. He got to the same stage of the
UK Championship by overcoming
Tian Pengfei 6–2,
Anthony McGill 6–3 and
Mitchell Mann 6–3. Zhang was unable to make it to his first quarter-final as he lost 6–1 to
Mark Selby. He qualified for the
China Open, but was ousted 5–1 by
Mark Williams in the opening round.
2019/2020 season Zhang remained outside the Top 64 for the entire season with a relatively poor run of form and was unable to replicate prior successes.
2020/2021 season Owing to his previous poor season, he fell outside of the Top 64 and lost his Tour card. He did not enter the Q School event as a result of the continuing impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore relegated from the professional tour. However, Zhang performed well in the 2021 CBSA China Tour and was awarded a tour card for the
2021–22 and 2022–23
World Snooker Tour seasons as a result.
2021/2022 season 2022/2023 season 2023/2024 season Zhang reached the final of the
2023 English Open, however came runner up with a 7–9 defeat to
Judd Trump. One month later he reached the final of the
2023 International Championship. After beating O'Sullivan in the semi-final, he won his first world ranking title by beating
Tom Ford 10–6. Anda hit a 147 maximum break in the match. At the
2024 World Championship, Zhang was defeated in the first round by
Jak Jones 4–10.
2025/2026 season In February 2026, Zhang reached the final of the
World Grand Prix but suffered a 6–10 defeat to Zhao Xintong. ==Personal life==