In her career, she won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, and two WTA Challenger doubles titles, as well as eleven singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. Her nickname is lightning for her amazing forehand.

On 24 April 2017, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 60. On 3 February 2020, she peaked at No. 16 in the doubles rankings.

Career

2012

Starting the year as the No. 378 in the world, Duan's ranking would improve significantly to No. 128 by the year's end. Some of the highlights of her 2012 season included winning four ITF titles at the 25k level in Wellington, Changwon, Gimcheon and Goyang. Playing qualifying at the US Open, Duan had her first experience in a Grand Slam tournament. She would win her first qualifying round defeating Réka Luca Jani, but would fall in the next round to Kirsten Flipkens. She received a wild card to the Guangzhou International and won her first WTA Tour main-draw match defeating Luksika Khumkum in the first round. Duan also achieved her best results in ITF events near the end of 2012, reaching the semifinals of $100K+H Ningbo and the finals of $100K Suzhou, losing both matches to top-100 veteran Hsieh Su-wei.

2013: Major debut

Duan was due to make her main-draw Grand Slam singles debut at Wimbledon, but withdrew to compete in the National Games of China. She made her Grand Slam singles debut in the main draw of the US Open, after winning three qualifying matches. She lost to sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the opening round. During the televised commentary of her match against Wozniacki, the commentators compared Duan's game to that of former world No. 1, Lindsay Davenport. They also began referring to her by the nickname of Duan-venport (段文波特) on the Chinese internet.^[1]^[2]^[3]

2015: First Major singles win

At Wimbledon, as a qualifier, Duan defeated 2014 finalist Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets in the first round. This was considered one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. In the second round, Duan lost to Tatjana Maria in a long three-set match.

2016: First WTA title

In July, she won her first WTA Tour title at the Jiangxi International Open, defeating Vania King in the final.

2017: Elite Trophy doubles title

In the first-round match at the Shenzhen Open, Duan wasted three match points and eventually lost to first seed and world No. 3, Agnieszka Radwańska. At the Australian Open, she had her best Grand Slam performance to date by defeating Rebecca Šramková and Varvara Lepchenko to reach the third round, where she lost to former world No. 1 and eventual finalist, Venus Williams, by 1–6, 0–6.

Duan won her first ever WTA Tour doubles title at the Elite Trophy with Han Xinyun.

2018: Second doubles title

Duan won her second doubles title at the Taiwan Open, playing with Wang Yafan.

2019: French Open finalist, Wuhan doubles title

Duan and Zheng Saisai reached the final of the French Open, losing to Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.

In September, they reached the quarterfinals of the US Open, however, they were beaten by the eventual champions Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka. The following week, with Zheng unavailable, she partnered with Veronika Kudermetova for the first time to win the doubles title at the Wuhan Open, beating Mertens and Sabalenka in the final.^[4]

2021: Olympics participation

She partnered Zhang Shuai for the Tokyo Olympics.

Grand Slam performance timelines

**Key**
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	P#	DNQ	A	Z#	PO	G	S	B	NMS	NTI	P	NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

Tournament	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	W–L
Australian Open	A	A	1R	1R	Q2	3R	2R	Q1	3–4
French Open	A	A	A	Q1	A	1R	1R	A	0–2
Wimbledon	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	Q2	A	2–3
US Open	Q2	1R	1R	Q2	2R	2R	A	A	2–4
Win–loss	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	3–4	1–2	0–0	7–13

Doubles

Tournament	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	W–L
Australian Open	A	A	1R	1R	1R	0–3
French Open	3R	3R	F	A	A	9–3
Wimbledon	1R	1R	3R	NH	A	2–3
US Open	A	2R	QF	A	A	4–2
Win–loss	2–2	3–3	10–4	0–1	0–1	15–11

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2019	French Open	Clay	Zheng Saisai	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	2–6, 3–6

Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2019	Wuhan Open	Hard	Veronika Kudermetova	Elise Mertens Aryna Sabalenka	7–6^(7–3), 6–2

WTA Elite Trophy

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2017	WTA Elite Trophy, Zhuhai	Hard (i)	Han Xinyun	Zhang Shuai Lu Jingjing	6–2, 6–1
Loss	2019	WTA Elite Trophy, Zhuhai	Hard (i)	Yang Zhaoxuan	Lyudmyla Kichenok Andreja Klepač	3–6, 3–6

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (title)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments
Premier M & Premier 5
Premier
International (1–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	Aug 2016	Jiangxi International Open, China	International	Hard	Vania King	1–6, 6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–1)
WTA Elite Trophy (1–1)
Premier M & Premier 5 (1–0)
International (1–3)

Finals by surface
Hard (3–3)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 2017	Zhuhai, China	Elite Trophy	Hard (i)	Han Xinyun	Lu Jingjing Zhang Shuai	6–2, 6–1
Win	2–0	Feb 2018	Taipei Open, Taiwan	International	Hard (i)	Wang Yafan	Nao Hibino Oksana Kalashnikova	7–6^(7–4), 7–6^(7–5)
Loss	2–1	Jan 2019	Shenzhen Open, China	International	Hard	Renata Voráčová	Peng Shuai Yang Zhaoxuan	4–6, 3–6
Loss	2–2	May 2019	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	International	Clay	Han Xinyun	Daria Gavrilova Ellen Perez	4–6, 3–6
Loss	2–3	Jun 2019	French Open	Grand Slam	Clay	Zheng Saisai	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	2–6, 3–6
Win	3–3	Sep 2019	Wuhan Open, China	Premier 5	Hard	Veronika Kudermetova	Elise Mertens Aryna Sabalenka	7–6^(7–3), 6–2
Loss	3–4	Oct 2019	Zhuhai, China	Elite Trophy	Hard (i)	Yang Zhaoxuan	Lyudmyla Kichenok Andreja Klepač	3–6, 3–6
Loss	3–5	Jan 2020	Shenzhen Open, China	International	Hard	Zheng Saisai	Barbora Krejčíková Kateřina Siniaková	2–6, 6–3, [4–10]

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 2014	Suzhou Ladies Open, China	Hard	Anna-Lena Friedsam	1–6, 3–6

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 2017	Hua Hin Challenger, Thailand	Hard	Wang Yafan	Dalila Jakupović Irina Khromacheva	6–3, 6–3
Win	2–0	Apr 2018	Zhengzhou Open, China	Hard	Wang Yafan	Naomi Broady Yanina Wickmayer	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 6–3
Loss	2–1	Apr 2019	Kunming Open, China	Clay	Han Xinyun	Peng Shuai Yang Zhaoxuan	5–7, 2–6

ITF Circuit finals

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$80,000 tournaments
$50/60,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles: 19 (11 titles, 8 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Feb 2009	ITF Jiangmen, China	10,000	Hard	Xie Yanze	6–2, 6–4
Win	2–0	May 2009	ITF New Delhi, India	10,000	Hard	Keren Shlomo	6–3, 6–4
Loss	2–1	Jun 2009	ITF Xiamen, China	25,000	Hard	Zhang Shuai	2–6, 1–6
Win	3–1	Mar 2010	ITF Nanjing, China	10,000	Hard	Liu Wanting	6–4, 7–6⁽⁶⁾
Win	4–1	Jun 2010	ITF Hefei, China	10,000	Hard	Zheng Saisai	6–3, 6–4
Loss	4–2	Aug 2010	ITF Saitama, Japan	10,000	Hard	Hsu Wen-hsin	1–6, 6–1, 3–6
Loss	4–3	Aug 2011	ITF Saitama, Japan	10,000	Hard	Ayumi Oka	3–6, 4–6
Win	5–3	Feb 2012	ITF Wellington, New Zealand	25,000	Hard	Sandra Zaniewska	6–1, 6–4
Win	6–3	May 2012	ITF Changwon, Korea	25,000	Hard	Zhang Ling	6–4, 6–3
Win	7–3	May 2012	ITF Gimcheon, Korea	25,000	Hard	Chanel Simmonds	6–2, 6–1
Win	8–3	Jun 2012	ITF Goyang, Korea	25,000	Hard	Zhang Ling	6–3, 6–3
Loss	8–4	Jul 2012	ITF Evansville, United States	10,000	Hard	Mallory Burdette	1–6, 2–6
Loss	8–5	Oct 2012	Suzhou Ladies Open, China	100,000	Hard	Hsieh Su-wei	2–6, 2–6
Win	9–5	May 2013	ITF Goyang, Korea (2)	25,000	Hard	Liu Fangzhou	6–3, 6–4
Win	10–5	Jun 2014	ITF Xi'an, China	50,000	Hard	Zhu Lin	4–6, 7–6⁽⁹⁾, 6–4
Win	11–5	Jul 2015	ITF Tianjin, China	25,000	Hard	Wang Qiang	4–6, 7–6⁽²⁾, 3–0 ret.
Loss	11–6	Jul 2015	ITF Zhengzhou, China	25,000	Hard	Wang Yafan	4–6, 4–6
Loss	11–7	Oct 2015	Suzhou Ladies Open, China	50,000	Hard	Zhang Kailin	6–1, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	11–8	May 2019	Jin'an Open, China	60,000	Hard	Han Xinyun	4–6, 3–6

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2008	ITF Khon Kaen, Thailand	10,000	Hard	Chen Hui	Kim Sun-jung Lee Cho-won	4–6, 6–4, [4–10]
Loss	0–2	Feb 2012	ITF Sydney, Australia	25,000	Hard	Han Xinyun	Arina Rodionova Melanie South	6–3, 3–6, [8–10]
Win	1–2	Jul 2012	ITF Evansville, United States	10,000	Hard	Xu Yifan	Mallory Burdette Natalie Pluskota	6–2, 6–3
Loss	1–3	Jul 2016	ITF Wuhan, China	50,000	Hard	Chang Kai-chen	Shuko Aoyama Makoto Ninomiya	4–6, 4–6
Win	2–3	May 2019	Kangaroo Cup Gifu, Japan	80,000	Hard	Han Xinyun	Akiko Omae Peangtarn Plipuech	6–3, 4–6, [10–4]
Win	3–3	Jun 2019	Manchester Trophy, UK	100,000	Grass	Zhu Lin	Robin Anderson Laura Ioana Paar	6–4, 6–3