Zhang lost in the first round of qualifying for the opening three ranking events of the season.&lt;ref name="2012/13"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; 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. He finished 10th on the Asian Order of Merit, just outside the top eight who qualified for the Finals. 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. The most matches he could win in qualifying was for the World Open by seeing off Michael Wild 5–3, Luca Brecel 5–4 and Rory McLeod 5–2. He was edged out in the final qualifying round 4–5 by Jamie Cope. Zhang's season came to an end when he lost 5–10 to Michael White in the third round of World Championship qualifying. He finished the year ranked world number 77.