the season with her Tianjin teammate Xu Yifan in preparation for the 2016 Olympics, but ended up losing in the first round matches in the Shenzhen Open and Australian Open. In their first-round match in the Australian Open against Kimiko Date-Krumm and Casey Dellacqua, they wasted a 6–4, 5–0 lead, two match points in the second set and three more in the twelfth game of the final set and eventually lost to their opponents. Peng was particularly frustrated by Xu, who was constantly attacked by their opponents and making a lot of unforced errors, and decided to split the partnership. She played two more tournaments, with Květa Peschke at Dubai and Zarina Diyas at Madrid, but was not able to win a set. After the first round retirement to Polona Hercog in the first round of French Open, Peng announced the end of her 2015 season due to injuries in her back and waist. 2016–2017: Comeback with WTA singles titles, Australian doubles final Peng returned to the tour in 2016 in Indian Wells. She suffered from a number of early exits in several events, including the first-round loss in the Rio Summer Olympics. In the China Open, Peng defeated Venus Williams in the first round but lost to Caroline Garcia in the second round. In the Tianjin Open, she clinched her first ever WTA singles title. As a resident in Tianjin, she received a withdraw from seventh seed and compatriot Zhang Shuai in the beginning round. In the second round, she defeated qualifier Chang Kai-chen. She benefited from the withdraw from Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinal and beat Danka Kovinić from Montenegro in the semifinal, which lasted for two days due to rain delays. Peng had to play the final several hours after the semifinal against the 2014 champion Alison Riske and won in two sets. She also won the doubles final match with Christina McHale. Peng started the season in the Shenzhen Open, where she lost to the eventual champion, Kateřina Siniaková, in the opening round. In the doubles event, she clinched her 21st title with Andrea Hlaváčková without losing a set. In the singles event of the Australian Open, she lost to Eugenie Bouchard in the second round. In the doubles event, Peng and Hlaváčková reached the final without dropping a set, defeating third seed and Olympic champion Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina and top-seed Caroline Garcia/Kristina Mladenovic. In the