Christinna Pedersen
In January, Zhao and Zhang won the World Superseries Finals (having held during January 2011) in Taipei. They defeating Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam of Thailand 21–17, 21–12 in the final. Zhao also reached the final in the women's doubles with Cheng. Two weeks later, they triumphed at Seoul by winning the Korea Open. In the final, they conquered compatriots Tao Jiaming and Tian Qing. Zhao and Tian reached the women's doubles final as well. In August, at the 2011 BWF World Championships in London, Zhao and Zhang won the mixed doubles title, with this being Zhao's first ever overall World Championship gold medal and first ever mixed doubles World Championship gold medal. She also won a silver medal in the women's doubles with Tian as well. In October, Zhao and Zhang reached the Denmark Open mixed doubles semi-final but they lost to Denmark's Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen 12–21, 21–14, and 20–22. However, Zhao and Zhao managed to reverse this, by winning against Fischer Nielsen and Pedersen in the mixed doubles finals at both the Hong Kong and China Open's. In December, Zhao and Zhang won the World Superseries Finals, successfully defending the title first won in January of the 2011 year.