World No. 85 Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his first clay-court final in more than two years today.
By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, July 18, 2026
Photo credit: EFG Swiss Open Gstaad Facebook
Firing a flurry of forehand winners, Stefanos Tsitsipas hit his way into his first final of the year.
Tstisipas fired 13 of his 20 forehand winners in the final set fending off Aleksandr Shevchenko 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to fight into his 31st career final on the red clay of the Gstaad Open.
“It was a great fight against Aleksandr,” Tsitsipas said. “I think we played an incredible match on both sides.
“I feel like both of us deserve the victory playing such incredible tennis. I’d like to congratulate him for his efforts today.”
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It is Tsitsipas’ first clay-court final since the 2024 Barcelona title match.
The 85th-ranked Tsitsipas will face Raphael Collignon in tomorrow’s final.
Earlier, Collignon saved a match point serving at 3-5 in the second set sparking a 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over Juan Manuel Cerundolo in today’s first semifinal.
The left-handed Cerundolo surprised world No. 1 Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros last month.
Today, Collignon was down 1-6, 3-5 when he saved the match point and eventually held for 4-5. That sparked a spree that saw Collignon reel off 11 of 13 points to edge ahead 6-5.
The seventh-seeded Belgian rallied from a mini break down at 0-2 in the tiebreaker winning seven of the next 10 points to snatch the second set and force a decider.
Collignon battled back from a 2-5 third-set deficit winning five games in a row to advanced to his first ATP final and join David Goffin (2015) as the second Belgian to reach the Gstaad final.
It will be the first meeting between Collignon and Tsitsipas.
“We both had long matches, so we both really want it,” Tsitsipas said. “We’ve come to the end. The two of us I feel like no one wants to go out there and not give it their all.
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“Whenever it’s a final you want to give it your all. I want to out there and take the court by storm—that’s what I’m hoping for.”
In the second semifinal, Tstisipas made a statement with several declarative forehand strikes down the stretch of the final set.
Dancing around his backhand, Tsitsipas flashed a forehand winner down the line that lanced the sideline for double break point.
An incredulous Shevchenko shook his head at the strike then saved the first break point.
On the second break point, Shevchenko committed his third double fault of the day gift-wrapping the break and a 5-3 lead to the Greek.
“[You need] extra oxygen; it’s difficult out here,” Tsitsipas said of Gstaad’s elevation. “It takes a little time to adapt to the bounces. The bounces are a little different.
“I think [the altitude] amplifies my game. The altitude helps my weapons a bit more.”
Serving for his first final of the year, Tsitsipas slashed successive forehand winners down opposite sidelines to close in one hour, 53 minutes.
Former world No. 3 Tsitsipas improved to 2015 as he plays for his 13th title and first since he defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime to capture the 2025 Dubai championship.
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Richard Pagliaro. Richard Pagliaro is Tennis Now Managing Editor. He is a graduate of New York University and has covered pro tennis for more than 35 years. Richard was tennis columnist for Gannett Newspapers in NY, served as Managing Editor for TennisWeek.com and worked as a writer/editor for Tennis.com. He has been TennisNow.com managing editor since 2010.