Gao Ling
Before 2009 Zhang had earned five medals, without yet "striking gold", at the BWF World Championships. At the 2005 tournament she took a bronze in women's doubles with Zhang Dan, and a silver with Xie Zhongbo in mixed doubles behind Indonesia's Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto. At the 2006 tournament Zhang and Wei Yili upset Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen in the semifinals but were beaten in the final by Gao Ling and Huang Sui. Zhang was eliminated in the semifinals of both doubles events at the 2007 edition in Kuala Lumpur.