- 1 Three hours and twenty minutes, and neither cousin blinked
- 2 Down 2-5 in the decider, and still not done
- 3 Sixteen aces, and something colder underneath
- 4 Tsitsipas or a home kid, neither one is a gift
- 5 Two months out, and Hanfmann for a welcome mat
- 6 Two from four, one from eight
- 7 Collignon is beatable, and Vacherot knows it
- 8 The family keeps finding the hard road
Three hours and twenty minutes, and neither cousin blinked
Rain had already shredded the schedule at Gstaad, so the two matches went off at the same time on courts a short walk apart. Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot both lost the opening set. Both were behind. Both won anyway.
The Frenchman is the No. 4 seed here. His Monegasque cousin had not hit a competitive ball in almost two months. Different problems, same afternoon, same result: the quarter-finals of the Swiss ATP 250.
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Down 2-5 in the decider, and still not done
Rinderknech came in with a first-round bye and clay under his feet again after a Wimbledon third round. Across the net was Clement Tabur, a qualifier with nothing to protect and everything to chase.
It got ugly fast. Tabur took the first set in a breaker. Rinderknech took the second the same way. Then the third started sliding, and it kept sliding, until the scoreboard read 5-2 to the qualifier and the biggest win of Tabur’s career was two games away.
Rinderknech won the last five games.
Sixteen aces, and something colder underneath
The serve did heavy lifting when it had to, 16 aces worth. But nobody claws back from 2-5 in a third set on serve alone, not after three hours in the legs. Tabur felt the shift. His momentum evaporated in about twelve minutes.
Final score: 6-7, 7-6, 7-5. Three hours and twenty minutes. It is Rinderknech’s first Gstaad quarter-final, and his 25th on tour.
All-French All action 🇫🇷
Rinderknech battles through to defeat fellow Frenchman Tabur 6-7 7-6 7-5 to reach his 25th ATP Tour quarter-final!#SwissOpenGstaad pic.twitter.com/CXZf4GwbcH
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 15, 2026
Tsitsipas or a home kid, neither one is a gift
Next up is the winner of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jerome Kym. Tsitsipas would mean long rallies and a physical grind on clay that plays heavy at 1,000 metres. Kym would mean a Swiss crowd and a player with nothing to lose swinging freely.
Rinderknech has already been dead once this week and survived. Weeks have been built on less.
Two months out, and Hanfmann for a welcome mat
Vacherot’s foot injury cost him Roland Garros and Wimbledon. His reward for coming back was Yannick Hanfmann, a German who thrives on clay and makes every rally feel like work.
The first set went 6-4 to Hanfmann, which read like rust. Vacherot did not chase it.
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Two from four, one from eight
The break-point column is the whole match. Vacherot converted 2 of 4. Hanfmann had eight looks and took one. That gap decided a contest that was otherwise close to even: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to the Monegasque.
He is not at full sharpness. He does not need to be yet. Beating an experienced clay-courter in three sets on your first day back says enough for now.
Collignon is beatable, and Vacherot knows it
Raphael Collignon got past Lorenzo Sonego in two tie-breaks, so the Belgian arrives with his nerve intact and his confidence up. Still, this one looks open. For a player who spent the spring watching, another match is worth more than another week of rehab.
The family keeps finding the hard road
One cousin came back from 2-5 down in a decider. The other came back from eight weeks off. Neither had a comfortable afternoon, and neither seemed especially bothered by that.
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