Tsitsipas competes for the first final of the year in Gstaad – Tennis Now

World number 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 reached his first final of the year.

Tstisipas fired 13 of his 20 forehand winners in the final set as he fended off Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to 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 game on both sides.

“I feel we both deserve the win by playing such incredible tennis. I would like to congratulate him on his efforts today.”

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It is Tsitsipas’ first clay final since Barcelona’s title match in 2024.

The Tsitsipas, number 85, will face Raphael Collignon in tomorrow’s final.

Earlier, Collignon saved a match point by serving at 3-5 in the second set, leading to a 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over Juan Manuel Cerundolo in today’s first semi-final.

The left-handed Cerundolo surprised Jannik Sinner, number 1 in the world, at Roland Garros last month.

Today Collignon was trailing 1-6, 3-5 when he saved the match point and eventually held for 4-5. That led to a blowout in which Collignon scored 11 of the 13 points to take the lead 6-5.

The seventh-seeded Belgian rallied after a minibreak at 0-2 in the tiebreak and won seven of the next ten points to take the second set and force a decider.

Collignon fought back from a 2-5 deficit in the third set to win five matches in a row, advancing to his first ATP final and joining David Goffin (2015) as the second Belgian to reach the Gstaad final.

It will be the first meeting between Collignon and Tsitsipas.

“We have both played long matches, so we both really want it,” Tsitsipas said. “We’ve come to the end. I feel like no one wants to go there and not give it their all.

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“Every time it’s a final you want to give everything. I want to go out and take the field by storm – that’s what I’m hoping for.”

In the second semi-final, Tstisipas made a statement with several declarative forehand attacks in the final set.

Tsitsipas danced around his backhand and flashed a forehand winner down the line that reached the touchline for a double break point.

An incredulous Shevchenko shook his head at the attack and then saved the first break point.

On the second break point, Shevchenko committed his third double fault of the day, clinching the break and giving the Greek a 5-3 lead.

“[You need] extra oxygen; It’s difficult here,” Tsitsipas said of Gstaad’s height. “It takes some time to adapt to the bounces. The bounces are a little different.

“I think [the altitude] strengthens my game. The height helps my weapons a little more.

Serving for his first final of the year, Tsitsipas smashed consecutive forehand winners down the opposite touchline to close in an hour and 53 minutes.

Former world number 3 Tsitsipas improved until 2015 when he played for his 13th title and first since beating Felix Auger-Aliassime to capture the 2025 Dubai Championship.

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Richard Pagliaro. Richard Pagliaro is editor-in-chief of Tennis Now. He is a graduate of New York University and has been involved in professional tennis for more than 35 years. Richard was a tennis columnist for Gannett Newspapers in New York, was editor-in-chief for TennisWeek.com and worked as a writer/editor for Tennis.com. Since 2010, he has been editor-in-chief of TennisNow.com.

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