article-image

Tsitsipas ends long wait for title with Gstaad triumph

3
0
Clock Icon23 HoursTennis

Stefanos Tsitsipas claimed his first ATP Tour crown in nearly 17 months with a three-set victory over Raphael Collingnon in the Gstaad Open final.

Tsitsipas last won a trophy at the Dubai Tennis Championships in March 2025 and ended his wait for another title with a 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 victory over Collingnon.

The Greek had to save a break point early on but responded by breaking Collingnon's serve and taking a 4-2 lead, only for the Belgian to immediately cancel that out.

Tsitsipas got another break to take the first set but could not hold onto his serve in the first game of the second as Collingnon fought back.

Collingnon could not maintain his advantage as the pair went to a tie-break, and it was the Belgian who edged it to force a decider.

From there, Tsitsipas took control, racing into a 4-2 lead before finally converting his second match point to get his hands on the trophy.

There was also a win for Andrey Rublev at the Bastad Open as he triumphed 6-4 6-3 over Luciano Darderi to win the tournament for the second time.

Rublev got a timely break in both sets, earning his first title since February 2025, having failed to win his last two showpiece matches in Hamburg and Barcelona, respectively.

Tsitsipas crowns best run of 2026 with trophy

Since he last appeared in an ATP Tour final last March, Tsitsipas has failed to go beyond the second round at six straight grand slams (one first-round loss, five in the second round).

But this could be the turning point the 27-year-old needed to turn his recent form around.

"It's a crazy feeling right now," Tsitsipas said after winning. "I survived a marathon, and it was a long week.

"I played some crazy matches in the past couple of days… Every single match felt like it was never finished, and somehow I managed to convert every single time and get the victory.

"I couldn't be more blessed, couldn't be more happy. It's been an incredible effort from my side to go out there and do that over and over again. I've dealt with some pain in the past couple of days. So I've had to withstand a lot of different things. The result was obviously the best thing I would have imagined at the beginning of the week."

Tsitsipas clinched his 13th Tour-level title after a battling display in Switzerland, and has ensured he will jump 30 places back up in the rankings to round off a stellar week.