Feb. 7, 2012

DALLAS (SMU) – Former SMU tennis players Adham el-Effendi and Darren Walsh teamed up to knock off the No. 60 ranked team in the world in James Cerretani and Izak Van Der Merwe, 6-4, 7-6(4), in the first round of the 2012 yp $100,000 Challenger of Dallas on Monday. Cerretani and Van Der Merwe were the No. 2 seeded doubles team in the the tournament.

"It's fantastic result for the Adham and Darren to beat a Top-100 team," said SMU men's tennis head coach Carl Neufeld. "It's a great win for them and for our program. It really shows how much work they put in both during their time at SMU and since they have graduated. The result is especially big for Darren as he's had to work his way back from an injury that forced him to miss most of his senior season here."

El-effendi and Walsh earned a wild card spot in the tournament by way of defeating Mark Odgers and Tam Trinh, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in the yp Dallas Shootout last month.

The Challenger of Dallas is becoming one of the top U.S. tournaments on the Challenger tour schedule. Notable participants in this year's tournament is American Sam Querry, who possed a Top-20 ranking last year and former world doubles No. 1, Mark Knowles. 

Walsh and el-Effendi will play their second round match on Thursday with the time currently to be announced. yp Challenger of Dallas matches can be viewed on the tournament's WebTV broadcast at http://www.challengerofdallas.com/