TULSA, Okla. – Cincinnati and Houston scored convincing first-round wins, while South Florida overcame an early deficit to take its match to cap the opening day of competition at the 2022 American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship Wednesday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.
 
Cincinnati was a 5-1 winner against Wichita State and Houston took a 4-0 decision against East Carolina before South Florida rallied from a 3-1 deficit to top Temple.
 
Complete coverage of The American Tennis Championships, including live scoring of each match, can be found on the conference’s Championship Central site. Live coverage of the women’s and men’s finals will be available on ESPN+.
 
 
Cincinnati 5, Wichita State 1
Records: Cincinnati (16-6), Wichita State (8-13)
 
No. 7-seeded Cincinnati won four of the contested singles matches in straight sets to rally for a first-round win against No. 10-seeded Wichita State in the opening match of the 2022 championship.
 
Wichita State had only five available players, forcing the Shockers to default the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles spots. Still, the Shockers were able to take a 1-0 lead after the doubles round after Jessie Zheng and LingWei Kong took a 6-0 win at No. 1 and Natsumi Kurahashi and Harriet Hamilton took the No. 2 contest 6-4.
 
Cincinnati officially evened the match when the Shockers did not fill the No. 6 spot in the singles lineup, and the Bearcats made short work of the remaining singles matches. Callie Flanagan was a 7-6 (3), 6-1 winner at the No. 5 spot to give Cincinnati the lead, and Kelli Niehaus, Maria Santilli and Ioana Guna scored straight-set wins to end the match.
 
Cincinnati, the No. 7 seed in the tournament, advances to face No. 2-seeded SMU Thursday at 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET.
 
 
Houston 4, East Carolina 0
Records: Houston (14-9), East Carolina (4-15)
 
Laura Silsane was a winner in both singles and doubles as No. 6-seeded Houston took a 4-0 win against No. 11-seeded East Carolina Wednesday afternoon in an opening-round match.
 
Silsane was a 6-0, 6-3 winner at No. 2 singles, while she helped Houston claim the doubles point by pairing with Sophie Gerits for a 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles.
 
The Cougars cruised through the singles round to clinch the match as Maria Dzemeshkevich won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 and Gabriella Giraldo took a 6-2, 6-1 decision at No. 6 before Silsane ended it with her second win of the day.
 
Houston won its opening match in The American Championship for the second consecutive season. The Cougars will look for back-to-back trips to the semifinal round when they face No. 3-seeded Tulsa Thursday at 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET.
 
 
South Florida 4, Temple 3
Records: South Florida (6-16), Temple (11-6)
 
Laura Pellicer and Margriet Timmermans won their respective singles matches in three sets to help South Florida overcome a 3-1 deficit and rally for a 4-3 win against Temple Wednesday in a near-three-and-a-half-hour contest.
 
Temple had built a 3-1 lead by claiming the doubles point and straight-set victories at No. 6 and No. 5 singles by Evie Wei and Yining Tian sandwiched between a win at No. 2 singles by the Bulls’ Sierra Berry.
 
Needing wins at both the No. 3 and No. 4 positions to take the match, South Florida’s Timmermans claimed her second set 7-5 before outlasting Veronika Kulhava for a 6-4 third set to tie the team score at 3-3. That turned the focus to the No. 3 match, where Pellicer trailed 4-2 in the third set before taking the last four games in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
 
South Florida, which improved to 13-5 all-time in the American Athletic Conference Championship with the win, will face top-seeded and No. 19-ranked UCF Thursday at noon CT/1 p.m. ET in the quarterfinals.

 
 
2022 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
April 20-23 | Michael D. Case Tennis Center | Tulsa, Oklahoma
 

First Round | Wednesday, April 20
No. 7 Cincinnati 5, No. 10 Wichita State 1
No. 6 Houston 4, No. 11 East Carolina 0
No. 9 South Florida 4, No. 8 Temple 3
Quarterfinals | Thursday, April 21
Cincinnati (16-6) vs. No. 2 SMU (13-8)	10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT
Houston (14-9) vs. No. 3 Tulsa (15-7)	10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT
No. 5 Tulane (12-8) vs No. 4 Memphis (17-5)	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT
South Florida (6-16) vs. No. 1 UCF (15-4)	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT
Semifinals | Friday, April 22
Quarterfinal winners	4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT
Quarterfinal winners	4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT
Final | Sunday, April 23 | ESPN+
Semifinal winners	5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT