![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784418792_251_610X150-Slide_PRO-PLAYER7-13-26.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWorld No. 85 Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his first clay-court final in more than two years today.<\/p>\n
By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, July 18, 2026
Photo credit: EFG Swiss Open Gstaad Facebook<\/p>\n
Firing a flurry of forehand winners, Stefanos Tsitsipas hit his way into his first final of the year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great fight against Aleksandr,\u201d Tsitsipas said. \u201cI think we played an incredible match on both sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like both of us deserve the victory playing such incredible tennis. I\u2019d like to congratulate him for his efforts today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennis Express<\/p>\n Grass-Court RacquetsThe frames the pros swing<\/p>\n Shop racquets \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n It is Tsitsipas\u2019 first clay-court final since the 2024 Barcelona title match.<\/p>\n The 85th-ranked Tsitsipas will face Raphael Collignon in tomorrow\u2019s final.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s first semifinal.<\/p>\n The left-handed Cerundolo surprised world No. 1 Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros last month.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It will be the first meeting between Collignon and Tsitsipas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe both had long matches, so we both really want it,\u201d Tsitsipas said. \u201cWe\u2019ve come to the end. The two of us I feel like no one wants to go out there and not give it their all.<\/p>\n