ORLANDO, Fla. – The top two seeds have advanced to the final of the American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship as UCF and USF scored semifinal-round victories Saturday morning at the USTA National Campus.
 
UCF, seeded No. 1 in the tournament and ranked No. 25 nationally, was a 4-0 winner against Tulsa Saturday, while USF, the No. 2 seed, took a 4-3 win against SMU. The Knights will make their first appearance in the American Championship final, while USF makes its fourth trip to the championship match and looks for its third title.
 
Live coverage of Sunday’s championship final will be on the American Digital Network. The time of the match will be determined following the conclusion of Saturday’s men’s semifinals.
 
Complete coverage of The American Tennis Championships, including live scoring of each match, can be found on the conference’s Championship Central site.
 
 
UCF 4, Tulsa 0
Records: UCF (20-3), Tulsa (15-9)
 

Valeriya Zeleva, Marie Mattel and Natalia Serrano all registered striaght-set wins in singles and UCF rallied to claim the early doubles point as the top-seeded Knights advanced to the final of the American Athletic Conference Championship for the first time with a 4-0 win against Tulsa Saturday morning.
 
Zeleva, ranked No. 46 in the Oracle/ITA rankings, won a battle of nationally ranked players at No. 1 singles as she took a 6-2, 6-0 victory against No. 81 Martina Okalova.
 
Mattel followed about a minute later with a win for her own - 6-2, 6-3 decision at the No. 4 spot. The Knights had won the first sets on all three remaining courts, and it was Serrano who closed out the match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 5.
 
Tulsa was in position to claim the doubles point after the teams had split the No. 1 and No. 3 matches and the Golden Hurricane had match point with a 5-2 lead at No. 2. But Mattel and partner Rebeka Stolmar battled back to take the next five games, gving the first team point to UCF with a 7-5 win.
 
UCF, which fell 4-3 to SMU as the top seed in last year’s semifinals, will play for its first American Athletic Conference title in women’s tennis Sunday.
 
 
 
USF 4, SMU 3
Records: USF (13-10), SMU (11-12)
 
Freshman Amelie Boy won the deciding match in three sets to send USF to the championship match of the American Women’s Tennis Championship for the fourth time in six years as the Bulls topped SMU 4-3 Saturday morning.
 
USF, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will face top-seeded UCF Sunday in the final. The match time will be determined later Saturday following the conclusion of the American’s men’s semifinals.
 
Boy won a grueling three-set matchup against SMU’s Ana Perez-Lopez as the first two sets were decided by tiebreakers. Boy dropped the first set 7-6 (7-4), but pulled out a 7-6 (7-5) win in the second set before completing the comeback with a 6-2 win in the third.
 
USF won four of the six singles matches after SMU had taken the doubles point. Laura Pellicer Perello and Alexanria Mjos turned in straight-set wins at No. 3 and No. 6 singles to reclaim the lead, but SMU’s Sara Monarrez Yesaki scored a three-set win to tie the match at 2-2.
 
Vivienne Kulicke put the Mustangs back on top with a three-set victory at No. 1 in a battle of nationally ranked players. But USF’s Vanja Klaric answered with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 2 to set the stage for Boy at No. 4.
 
 
 
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
presented by AIR FORCE RESERVE
April 17-20 | Orlando, Florida
 

First Round | Wednesday, April 17
Match 1: No. 8 Memphis 4, No. 9 Temple 0
Match 2: No. 5 Wichita State 4, No. 12 UConn 0
Match 3: No. 6 SMU 4, No. 11 Tulane 2
Match 4: No. 10 Cincinnati 4, No. 7 ECU 1
Quarterfinals | Thursday, April 18
Match 5: No. 1 UCF 4, No. 8 Memphis 0
Match 6: No. 4 Tulsa 4, No. 5 Wichita State 0
Match 7: No. 6 SMU 4, No. 3 Houston 1
Match 8: No. 2 USF 4, No. 10 Cincinnati 2
Semifinals | Friday, April 19
Match 9: No. 1 UCF 4, No. 4 Tulsa 0
Match 10: No. 2 USF 4, No. 6 SMU 3
Final | Saturday, April 20 | American Digital Network
Match 11: No. 1 UCF (21-3) vs. No. 2 USF (13-10)	TBD

 
 
All times Eastern