Coco Gauff has clinched the second-biggest title of her career so far after emerging victorious at the WTA Finals.
Andy Roddick noticed a Gauff serving improvement at the WTA Finals, which undoubtedly helped her go on to lift the trophy.
The 20-year-old enjoyed a superb tournament in Riyadh, with Gauff winning the WTA Finals title with a comeback final victory over Qinwen Zheng.
But it took plenty of work for the American to reach that stage, beginning with a group match win over compatriot Jessica Pegula.
Gauff followed that straight sets win with a similar victory over Iga Swiatek, thus securing a semi-final spot.
Rennae Stubbs rubbishes Coco Gauff claims at the WTA Finals
She did, however, go on to lose her final group stage match, with Barbora Krejcikova defeating Gauff in straight sets.
The Czech star secured a semi-final place with the win, with world number two Swiatek losing out despite previously beating Barbora Krejcikova and thrashing Daria Kasatkina.
That situation has since caught the eye of Rennae Stubbs, who said on the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast: “I want to reference a couple of things which were said on Twitter, like somebody wrote that Coco tanked the match against Krejcikova so Iga couldn’t get through to the semi-finals. I’m like no, that’s now how it works.
“So Coco says I am going to lose to Krejikova and then have a possibility of playing her again. Or I have already beaten Iga and now if I lose then I get to play [Aryna] Sabalenka in the semis, yeah! No way. That’s not how she is thinking. She is thinking I want to win again, I want to get more money in my pocket because if you go undefeated you get an extra bonus on top of that, so winning does count to your bank account.
“Arguably you would say that playing against Qinwen was easier than playing Sabalenka, why would you want to play Sabalenka? But I think for anyone to suggest that Coco went in there with a dubious sense of I am going to kick out Iga is just nonsense.
“There’s no way you want to lose a match going into the semi-finals and you don’t want to lose a match going into the semi-finals arguably playing against the best player on hard court all year in Sabalenka, so stop with the nonsense. That’s not what happened. She got beaten.”
Coco Gauff blows away Aryna Sabalenka on way to first WTA Finals title
Sabalenka was undoubtedly the player to beat at the WTA Finals, having just secured the number one spot ahead of the event.
And Stubbs is certainly right in saying that Gauff would have wanted a win over Krejcikova prior to meeting Sabalenka, with momentum a huge factor at such tournaments.
Anybody can beat anybody at the WTA Finals, and that was proven with a handful of shock results in Riyadh.
READ MORE: Chris Evert says what ‘stood out’ about Coco Gauff during her WTA Finals win over Qinwen Zheng
But Gauff was perhaps the surprise package, with the American picking up a massive semi-final win over Sabalenka on her way to the trophy.
Swiatek meanwhile has plenty of work to do in the off-season to get back to her best, which she will do alongside new coach Wim Fissette.
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