Former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs has described claims that Coco Gauff “tanked” to knock Iga Swiatek out of the 2024 WTA Finals as “nonsense.”

Stubbs, who coached tennis icon Serena Williams, pointed to the fact Gauff faced world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals in Riyadh as a result of losing the match in question.

Prior to her third WTA Finals round robin match against Barbora Krejcikova, Gauff had already guaranteed her progress to the last four with straight-set wins against Jessica Pegula and Swiatek.

The world No 3 was beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Krejcikova — a result that saw the Czech join her in the semi-finals at the expense of Swiatek.

Some suggested this was a favourable outcome for Gauff, who holds a 2-11 record against Swiatek after her group stage win over the Polish star in Saudi Arabia.

However, Gauff’s loss to Krejcikova meant she finished second in the group, leading to a semi-final showdown with four-time major champion Sabalenka, which was arguably the toughest possible draw.

The 20-year-old downed the Belarusian 7-6(4), 6-3 in the last four before battling to a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) victory against Zheng Qinwen in a thrilling final.

Speaking on an episode of the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Stubbs shut down the theory that Gauff intentionally lost to Krejcikova to eliminate Swiatek in Riyadh.

“Somebody wrote about, ‘Coco tanked the match against Krejcikova so Iga couldn’t get through to the semi-finals.’ No, that’s not how it works,” Stubbs said.

“First of all, Coco says, ‘I’m going to lose to Krejcikova and then have the possibility of playing Krejcikova again or I’ve already beaten Iga and now if I lose to Krejcikova then I get to play Sabalenka in the semis. Yeah!

“No way, that’s not what she’s thinking. She’s thinking, ‘I want to win again, I want to get more money into my pocket.’ Because if she’d gone undefeated, she’d have made even more money. If you go undefeated, you get an extra bonus.

“Arguably, you would say playing against Qinwen at the time was easier than playing against Sabalenka. Why would you want to play Sabalenka?

“For anyone to suggest that Coco went in there with the dubious sense of, ‘I’m going to kick out Iga Swiatek,’ is nonsense.

“There’s no way you want to lose a match going into the semi-finals, arguably playing against the best player on hard courts all year in Sabalenka.