Two-Time Gstaad Champ Ruud Moves A Round Closer To Third Title

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud (photo: Break Point Images by Meierhans)

GSTAAD/WASHINGTON, July 16, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Since the start of the 2020 season, Casper Ruud, far and away, has led the ATP Tour in clay-court victories. He’s accumulated 147 of them to distance himself from second-place Alexander Zverev, who has 32 fewer victories on the red-brick surface.

On Thursday afternoon in the Swiss Alps, the 27-year-old Norwegian made his return to the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad to play his opening-round match in this ATP 250-series clay-court event. It’s a tournament that he’s won twice, in 2021 and 2022. By the end of the week, Ruud looks to join Sergi Bruguera (1992-94) and Alex Corretja (1998, 2000, 2002) as the only three-time champions in tournament history.

The World No. 13 and second-seeded Ruud, undefeated in opening rounds on clay this year, advanced to his fifth ATP Tour quarterfinal this season with his 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory over 92nd-ranked Jaime Faria of Portugal in two hour and 31 minutes on Roy Emerson Arena – but not without a scare. It was his sixth opening-round victory of 2026.

Ruud has had plenty of time to prepare for the high altitude of Gstaad – a couple of weeks – after bowing to Hubert Hurkacz in the opening round at Wimbledon on grass last month. Before that, his last foray on clay was at Roland-Garros, where the two-time finalist reached the fourth round before losing to Joao Fonseca. Meanwhile, Faria won his first-round match against 41-year-old Swiss star Stan Wawrinka on Tuesday.

For a set Thursday, some of Ruud’s rustiness from inactivity surfaced against the 23-year-old Faria, who was looking to collect the biggest win of his career and to become the second Portuguese player to ever reach the last eight in Gstaad.

After losing a one-sided tiebreaker 7-1, Ruud went to work and found solutions. He leveled the second-round match by breaking Faria to go ahead 5-4. Then, he served his first ace of the match on set point to win 6-4.

Next, Ruud broke Faria in the opening game of the decider and, soon, gained a double-break lead at 5-2 with his fourth break of Faria. Soon, he served out his 24th victory of the season, securing the win with his third ace, to advance. It was Ruud’s 10th career victory in Gstaad.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to say when you get a good feeling, when you start to, maybe, win some games in a row in the match,” Ruud said during his on-court interview, in search of his first title of the season, after improving to 24-13 in 2026. “You try, of course, from the first game until the last. Suddenly, something clicks in the middle of the second set luckily. At 4-all, from that point, I was able to break him a couple of times and played well behind my serve. I had to really fight hard.

“I knew if I played one bad game in the second and he served well, it could be over and we’d be going home. Luckily, we were able to extend the stay one day and play another match tomorrow in Gstaad.”

Ruud finished with 24 winners and four breaks of Faria’s serve in 14 opportunities. He outpointed his opponent 105-93.

Cerundolo goes the distance to beat Kecmanovic

In Friday’s quarterfinal round, Ruud will face No. 6 seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina, who went the distance to beat No. 59 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, in two hours and eight minutes to collect his 12th victory of the season.

Cerundolo hit nine aces, won 76 percent (39 of 51) of his first-serve points and converted two of four break points against Kecmanovic. He outpointed his opponent 94-90.

The win advanced Cerundolo into his seventh ATP Tour quarterfinal – third of the season. He will seek a personal-best ninth clay-court triumph in a single season against Ruud on Friday.

Around the Roy Emerson Arena

• No. 85 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece resumed his second-round match against 186th-ranked Swiss wild card Jerome Kym, which was suspended due to darkness in the third set Wednesday evening, even at 5-all.

After both competitors held serve, it came down to a decisive tiebreaker that was won by Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), in two hours and 29 minutes. On match point, Tsitsipas struck an inside-out forehand winner that capped a three-shot rally and earned him his 19th victory of the season.

Tsitsipas struck 33 winners – including eight aces – and saved all three break points he faced. He outpointed Kym 112-105.

“It was like a cricket match. I’m happy to have it done,” Tsitsipas said during his on-court interview. “It was a long one, we played for a very long time. I’d like to congratulate Jerome on an unbelievable match. He made my life difficult out there. 

“It was strange going to be knowing the match was not finished. I was trying to visualize what I was going to do out there today. It worked out pretty well.”

Next, Tsitsipas will be back on court in Friday’s quarterfinal round against No. 4 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France.

• No. 1 seed and defending champion Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan took on No. 90 Quentin Halys of France in a second-round match. They endured through a one-hour rain delay that began after Bublik won a first-set tiebreaker. Then, just after 8 o’clock local time, three points from a potential Bublik victory, play was suspended by rain, again. The players left the court and the tarp was rolled over the length of the court – quickly. Soon, after, play was cancelled for day as isolated thunderstorms rolled in.

The World No. 11 Bublik earned his first ATP Tour title on clay in Gstaad last year, defeating Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the final. Now, he’s seeking his sixth ATP Tour quarterfinal of the season (4-1).

Bublik came into the Halys match 9-1 in his last 10 matches against French opposition. He won the opening set 7-6 (4) and played the first point of the second set before it began raining for the second-straight day. The players left the court at 5:22 p.m. and sat out the delay before returning. Now, they’ll be back on Friday to finish the match.

The Bublik-Halys winner will face either 326th-ranked Swiss wild card Dominic Stricker or No. 100 Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan, whose match was pushed off Roy Emerson Arena to Court 1 in order to ensure it had enough daylight to finish it. However, after 28 minutes of play, with Stricker up a break 4-3, it was suspended by rain and will be completed Friday.

• In doubles, No. 1 seeds Lucas Miedler of Austria and Marc Polmans of Australia advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Ignacio Buse of Peru and Inigo Cervantes of Spain.

Also, advancing to the semifinals were Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil and Robert Galloway of the United States, who upset No. 2 seeds Jakub Schnaitter and Mark Wallner of Germany, 6-3, 7-5.

Thursday’s EFG Swiss Open results

Friday’s EFG Swiss Open order of play

By the numbers

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece has reached two ATP Tour quarterfinals this season. The other came at Doha in February. This is his first one on clay since 2025 at Barcelona. He’s now 11-1 versus players ranked outside the Top 100. 

“Quotable …”

“It’s great. This tournament is fantastic in many ways. It’s beautiful here and summertime in Europe is fantastic. It’s close to home for me. I have my family here. Every is nice. I really enjoy coming here. The fans are great. I’m enjoying my time here.”

– Two-time Gstaad champion Casper Ruud, during his on-court interview Thursday on why he enjoys coming back to play at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad.

 

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