Zheng began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in June 2008, at the age of 14, where, at the $25k Qian Shan, she lost in the first round of qualifying against fellow Chinese Zhou Xiao.

In September 2011, Zheng made her WTA Tour debut in both singles and doubles at the Guangzhou International Open.

There she won her first doubles title, partnering Hsieh Su-wei and defeating Chan Chin-wei and Han Xinyun in straight sets.

Week later, she made her debut at the Premier Mandatory China Open as a wildcard player only in singles, but lost in round one.

During the year, she also performed on the ITF Circuit in doubles, winning the $100k Ningbo Challenger alongside Tetiana Luzhanska in September 2011, right before she made her WTA Tour debut.

Later, she had her first attempts to be part of the Grand Slam tournament main draw in singles, but lost in the qualifying of Wimbledon, and later of the US Open.

In July 2012, she won her first singles match at the Premier-level Stanford Classic, defeating Ayumi Morita in the first round.

During the season, she progress in singles ranking, entering top 150 for the first time in September 2012 and finished year as world No.

Zheng had a strong start of the year, reaching Australian Open doubles semifinal as her first significant Grand Slam result.

In that semifinal match, she partnered with Varvara Lepchenko, and they were defeated by Australians Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, in straight sets.

She still do not shine in singles, but continued with good performances in doubles, reaching quarterfinals at the French Open, also with Lepchenko, where they were defeated by top-seeded Italian duo Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, in straight sets.

[3] In August, she made progress in singles, reaching the final of the Suzhou Ladies Open, but lost to Shahar Peer.

At the 2019 French Open, Zheng made her first Grand Slam final, alongside Duan Yingying; they lost against Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, in straight sets.

[5] In August, Zheng won her first WTA Tour singles title at the Silicon Valley Classic when she defeated second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

[8] Following her sixth title at the 2024 Berlin Ladies Open with Wang Xinyu,[9] she returned to the top 75 in the doubles rankings, raising more than 50 positions on 24 June 2024.

[citation needed] Partnering Wang Xinyu, Zheng reached the doubles final at the Singapore Open, losing to second seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Giuliana Olmos.

[10] Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.