Tsitsipas topples seed No. 4 Rinderknech to end two-year wait for a clay semi-final
Stefanos Tsitsipas ousted seed No. 4 Arthur Rinderknech at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad on Friday, booking his first clay semi-final in two years and a last-four meeting with Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, 2026 | © MTG
Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated France’s seed No. 4 Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the Gstaad quarter-finals on Friday, extending his head-to-head lead to 2-0 and reaching his first semi-final on clay since 2024.
Tsitsipas, a six-time Grand Slam semi-finalist with a career-high ranking of No. 3, reached his first ATP Tour semi-final since winning the Dubai title last year and his first on clay since losing to Matteo Berrettini in the 2024 Gstaad semi-finals.
He beat Rinderknech in straight sets at Rotterdam earlier this season and has posted a 2-7 record against Top 30 opponents on clay since the start of 2025, with wins over No. 24 Sebastian Korda in Barcelona and No. 11 Alexander Bublik at the Madrid Masters.
The world No. 85 needed three sets to see off Switzerland’s Jerome Kym in the second round, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(5), then beat Peruvian seed No. 5 Ignacio Buse 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad.
Rinderknech, who reached a career-high No. 24 in May, became the ninth French ATP Masters 1000 finalist in series history last year before falling to his cousin, Valentin Vacherot, in the Shanghai final. An eighth career semi-final will have to wait. Tsitsipas moves on to face Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko, ranked No. 100, for a place in the final.
Rinderknech, ranked No. 28, also went the distance in the previous round, needing 3 hours and 23 minutes – the longest match of the tournament so far – to beat qualifier Clement Tabur 6-7(9), 7-6(5), 7-5.
