Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a  half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.

Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.

Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022. 

Ruud  ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.

After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.

Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.

“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.

“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”

He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”

The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.

Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.

The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..

The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.

Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.

The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.

The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.

Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,

He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.

Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.

Stefanos Tsitsipas ended a five-match loss streak to top 50 opponent as the former semi-finalist defeated Ignacio Buzo 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday for a second-round place at the Swiss Open Gstaad.

The former world No. 3 who now stands 85th after a dreadful season and a split with his father as longtime coach, looks to have begun the process of recovering his ranking, since his season highlight – a fourth round at the Madrid Masters three months ago.

Tsitsipas lost a semi-final here in 2024 to Matteo Berrettini, a pre-event injury pullout at this edition in the Alps, with 1,050 metres of altitude markedly speeding up the clay.

The 27-year-old Greek was in total control of the opening set but traded breaks in the seventh and eighth games of the second against a Portuguese opponent ranked 33rd.

Tsitsipas then secured a 5-4 lead with an ace and broke Buso in a long final game of five deuces, going through to the second round on his second match point after 96 minutes.

“lI felt close to breaking in every single (one of his service) games,” the winner said. “I held on throughout the match.

“I was always there and capable of breaking. It was great tennis from my side. I’m happy with how I fired today.”

The six-time Grand Slam semi-finalist said he is keen to return to his best level. “I’m hungry and I want to prove that on the court.

“There is an opportunity this week to showcase my best tennis. I want to build on this win and proceed with confidence.”