MONASTIR, Tunisia – Santa Clara men's tennis players Guillaume Dalmasso and Arthur Neuhaus each picked up their first professional ATP rankings points when they advanced through the qualifying rounds at the M15 Monastir Tournament and won their first round matches last week.
The ATP rankings are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all singles and doubles tournaments.
On the hard court surfaces at Monastir, Dalmasso and Neuhaus won three-straight singles matches in the qualifying round to advance to the main draw.
Dalmasso won his qualifying round matches without dropping a set, taking down Australia's Adrian Acron 6-2, 6-4 in the opening match, followed by a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Kuwait's Bader Alabdullah and a 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow Frenchmen Pablo Trochu.
For Neuhaus, he won the first qualifying round match when Austria's Paul Ender retired in the first set. Neuhaus then came back from a set down to defeat Great Britain's Yujiro Onuma 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 before beating China's Sheng Tang 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 to move to the main draw.
In the opening round of the main draw, Dalmasso defeated India's Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta 6-4, 6-4 while Neuhaus handled Italy's Alessandro Pecci 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, before both Broncos bowed out in the second round. Dalmasso lost to France's Arthur Bouquier 6-4, 6-3 while Neuhaus fell to Germany's Robert Strombachs 6-2, 6-1.
The Bronco duo will return to the Mission Campus this fall.
