Conditions on day three resulted in a series of missed and misjudged marks in the unforgiving Chinese waters that were used at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Zhang's victories mean she remains at the top with a tally of five points.

Second placed Monika Mikkola of Finland finished behind Zhang in both races and is six points behind Zhang on 11, with the nearest competitors a long way adrift on 31 points.

Chinese duo Rubei Yuan and Min Gu, as well as New Zealand's Susannah Pyatt, are all in the frame for the bronze medal.

Elsewhere, Croatia's Tonci Stipanovic remains at the top of the men's laser fleet standings ahead of Italian Giovanni Coccoluto.

Stipanovic, the Olympic silver medallist at Rio 2016, scored a third and discarded fourth place to end the day on 11 points and just one ahead of Coccoluto who is on 12.

The Italian scored a similar second and fourth but a discarded tenth from the very first race of the regatta means he is under a bit more pressure to finish higher than his Croatian rival.

Joining Stipanovic and Coccoluto in the podium positions is Cyprus' Pavlos Kontides, who recovered from bad starts to finish with a second and fifth place.

Kontides, a silver medallist at London 2012, has now moved into third with 20 points but only has a one-point advantage over Great Britain's Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini in fourth.

Chiavarini remains in contention after he produced a win and a ninth place today, with the other victory going to Russia's Sergey Komissarov who is fifth.

Chinese pair Hao Lan and Chao Wang started the day looking comfortable at the top of the men's 470 table.

However, a dreadful day today, which featured a ninth and discarded tenth place finish, has seen their lead at the top cut.

Fellow Chinese sailors, Liangdao Weng and Youjian Wen, now sit just two points adrift after scoring a second and a discarded 11th to finish on 17 points, two shy of the leaders.

Completing an all Chinese top three are Zangjun Xu and Wei Wang who took a victory and fourth place to give them a total of 24 points.

Mengxi Wei and Yani Xu of China returned to winning ways with another perfect day in the women's 470.

Two victories from two races gave them top spot with five points and a nine-point gap ahead of compatriots Shasha Chen and Haiyan Gao, who are in second with 14 points.

Meanwhile, China's Hongmei Shi continues to open a gap on the rest of the field in the Women's RS:X with two victories and a second place contributing to her lead.

A win and a second place helped China's Lei Gong remain top of the finn fleet with six points.