Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko (100), reaching the semifinals of an ATP tournament for the second time in his career, lost to Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals of the Swiss Open Gstaad-2026 – 4:6, 6:3, 3:6. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The highest-altitude ATP tournament in Europe (1050 meters above sea level) is special for Kazakhstani players. Last year, Alexander Bublik won it in brilliant style. However, Kazakhstan's top-ranked player and world No. 11 could not defend the title. Bad weather intervened. The match against Frenchman Quentin Halys (90) was stretched over two days due to rain. In the end, luck turned away from Alexander the First – 7:6 (7:4), 4:6, 6:7 (5:7).

That same difficult evening, Alexander the Second stepped in for his compatriot, defeating Halys – 7:6 (7:5), 6:3.

Interestingly, on the path to victory in last year's tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland, Bublik defeated Shevchenko – 6:2, 6:3. A new Kazakhstani derby was prevented by Halys. Still, the tournament did not go without a representative of Kazakhstani tennis in the decisive stages.

Until now, the 25-year-old native of Rostov, who has been playing for Kazakhstan since 2024, had only played in an ATP semifinal once before. That was in Metz-2023, when he was still Russian. Shevchenko reached the final then, losing to Frenchman Ugo Humbert – 3:6, 3:6.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is much more experienced in this regard – winner of 14 ATP tournaments, finalist of Roland Garros-2021 and AO-2023, former world No. 3 (2021). So the answer to the question of the favorite in the Gstaad-2026 semifinal was obvious.

The first set seemed to confirm the obvious. The tall (193 cm) Greek lost only one point in five games on his serve. Tsitsipas found the sixth winning game on the opponent's serve – 6:4.

After losing the set, Shevchenko did not lose heart. Alexander continued to persistently look for keys to his opponent's game. Serving steadily, the Kazakhstani took advantage of the Greek's inaccuracies and broke in the fourth game. After that, he did not allow a reply until the end of the set – 6:3.

In the decisive set, the Kazakhstani held his serve until the seventh game, and then Stefanos's experience showed, as he won three games in a row. 6:4, 3:6, 6:3 – the match lasted 1 hour 51 minutes. Aces count – 4:4, total points won – 83:72.

The Swiss Open Gstaad tournament, the Swiss Open tennis championship, has been held since 1915. Until 1967, it was held in different cities, and in 1968 it found a permanent location in Gstaad, a popular ski resort in the Swiss Alps.

Since 2009, the tournament has been classified as ATP-250. The total prize fund is €612,500.

Over the years, Swiss Open Gstaad has been won by Swiss Roger Federer, Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Swedish Stefan Edberg, Argentine Guillermo Vilas, and other stars.