On 11 June 2012, she reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of 244.

Zhao won four singles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

Zhao was accepted as a wildcard into the qualifying of the 2011 Guangzhou International Women's Open where she defeated eighth seed Hsu Wen-hsin and second seed Mădălina Gojnea.

In the main draw, she defeated Misaki Doi in the first round, 6–4, 6–3.

In 2012, Zhao started off the year playing ITF events in China, losing in the first round of the Blossom Cup, then moving on to win both the singles and doubles in Pingguo.