but Perry went on to complete a 10–4 win. 2015/2016 season Zhang defeated Liang Wenbo 4–3 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Haining Open, but lost 4–3 to Ding Junhui. He won his first professional event the General Cup Qualifying Event. He beat Cao Yupeng 5–4 in the final. This was an invitation event with the winner taking the eighth and final place in the General Cup. He would go on to reach the semi-finals of the event, where he was beaten 6–3 by Marco Fu. Zhang overcame Robert Milkins and Dechawat Poomjaeng both 5–4 to qualify for the German Masters and he whitewashed Alfie Burden 5–0 in the opening round to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time in his career. His run was ended with a 5–1 defeat to Judd Trump. Zhang qualified for the World Championship for the second year in a row with wins over Bratislav Krustev, Mark Davis and Zhou Yuelong. He lost 10–5 to Barry Hawkins in the opening round. Zhang was just outside the top 64 in the world rankings at 65, but earned a new two-year tour card by finishing joint fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. 2016/2017 season Zhang comfortably beat Dominic Dale 5–1 to play in the World Open where he defeated Peter Ebdon 5–1 and Judd Trump 5–2 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the third time, but he was thrashed 5–0 by David Gilbert. He got to the same stage of the UK Championship by overcoming Tian Pengfei 6–2, Anthony McGill 6–3 and Mitchell Mann 6–3. Zhang was unable to make it to his first quarter-final as he lost 6–1 to Mark Selby. He qualified for the China Open, but was ousted 5–1 by Mark Williams in the opening round. 2019/2020 season Zhang remained outside the Top 64 for the entire season with a relatively poor run of form and was unable to replicate prior successes. 2020/2021 season Owing to his previous poor season, he fell outside of the Top 64 and lost his Tour card. He did not enter the Q School event as a result of the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore relegated from the professional tour. However, Zhang performed well in the 2021 CBSA China Tour and was awarded a tour card for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 World Snooker