Raphael Collignon vs. Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, Aleksandr Shevchenko vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas. The final four at the 2026 EFG Swiss Open Gstaad have all reached their first ATP semi-final of the year.
Surprise package Raphael Collignon (ATP No. 42) became the first semi-finalist of this year’s EFG Swiss Open Gstaad on a sold-out quarter-final day. The 24-year-old Belgian needed almost two hours and fifteen minutes to overcome Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot (ATP No. 21), winning 7-6, 4-6, 7-5. It marks Collignon’s first semi-final appearance of the season, having already impressed in 2026 with victories over world No. 5 Ben Shelton, French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli, and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
Collignon has less pleasant memories of his next opponent. In their only meeting this season, in Eastbourne, he narrowly lost to Juan Manuel Cerúndolo (ATP No. 45) in three sets. The Argentine also seems to thrive in the Alpine atmosphere. For the second consecutive year, he defeated second seed Casper Ruud (ATP No. 13) in the Gstaad quarter-finals, this time 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Last year, Cerúndolo’s run ended only in the final against Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.
However, the defending champion will no longer feature in this year’s tournament. One of the players affected by the rain delays in the top half of the draw, world No. 11 Bublik lost the continuation of his suspended match against France’s Quentin Halys (ATP No. 90) in a third-set tie-break. When play was halted the previous day, Bublik had been leading 6-5 in the deciding set.
Halys’ joy at reaching the quarter-finals was short-lived. He was soon beaten by Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko (ATP No. 100), who won 7-6, 6-3 after having earlier completed his suspended victory over Dominic Stricker on Court 1. The Bern native had led 4-3 with a break advantage when play was interrupted on Thursday but managed to win only three more games after the restart, eventually losing 5-7, 2-6.
Following a long day’s work, Shevchenko only had to wait to discover his semi-final opponent. It will be Stefanos Tsitsipas (ATP No. 85). The charismatic Greek, who thoroughly enjoys the unique atmosphere in the Bernese Oberland, extended his stay in Gstaad with an impressive victory over the much higher-ranked Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (ATP No. 28). His 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win should provide Tsitsipas with a major confidence boost as he looks to climb back up the ATP rankings. However, the former world No. 3 has reason to be cautious ahead of the semi-finals: Shevchenko won their only previous meeting, at the 2025 United Cup in Australia.