TULSA, Okla. – The American Athletic Conference will crown a first-time champion in men’s tennis as top-seeded SMU and No. 2-seeded Memphis advanced to the final of the 2022 American Athletic Conference Championship Saturday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
 
SMU was a 4-2 winner against South Florida, ending the Bulls’ run of eight consecutive trips to the final and sending the Mustangs to the championship match for the first time. Memphis is in the final for the second time, while the Tigers will look for their first American title after a 4-3 win against Tulsa.
 
SMU won a regular-season meeting against Memphis with a 4-0 victory in Dallas April 4.
 
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 men’s final will be available on ESPN+.
 
 
SMU 4, South Florida 2
Records: SMU (21-6), South Florida (13-10)
 
Liam Krall’s three-set win at No. 2 singles provided the clinching point as top-seeded SMU advanced to the championship final of The American Men’s Tennis Championship Saturday.
 
Krall took a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against South Florida’s Chase Ferguson to end the match and hold off the Bulls’ comeback bid. The Mustangs claimed the doubles point and built a 3-1 lead before the Bulls got a victory from Antonio Muniz at No. 3 singles to close within one at 3-2.
 
The No. 5 match saw SMU’s Julian Steinhausen and South Florida’s Sergio Gomez Montesa split the first two sets and locked in a 4-4 tie in the third, but Krall’s win at No. 2 put an end to the match with the Mustangs’ fourth team point.
 
Pranav Kumar won in both singles and doubles for SMU as he took a 6-4, 6-1 victory at No. 4 singles and paired with Adam Neff for a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles.
 
SMU will make play in The American Championship final as the Mustangs denied South Florida a record-eighth consecutive appearance in the tournament final. The Bulls fell to 20-3 all-time in the conference tournament.
 
 
 
 
Memphis 4, Tulsa 3
Records: Memphis (15-7), Tulsa (15-11)
 
Oscar Cutting won a three-set battle at No. 3 singles to send Memphis to the American Athletic Conference Championship final for the first time since 2014 with a 4-3 win against Tulsa Saturday in the semifinal round of the tournament.
 
Cutting scored a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory against the Golden Hurricane’s Ezequiel Santalla to clinch the match after Tulsa had forged a 3-3 tie on Connor DiMarco’s straight-set win at No. 5.
 
David Stevenson won in both singles and doubles for Memphis as he topped No. 49-ranked Kody Pearson for a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 1 singles and delivered a 6-1 doubles win at the top spot alongside Jeremy Taylor.
 
Patrick Sydow and Pau Fanlo added a doubles win for Memphis to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead, but Tulsa’s Callum Gale tied the score with a striaght-set victory at No. 6 singles.
 
Stevenson’s singles win gave Memphis a 2-1 lead, and the Tigers stood one win away from the clincher after Pablo Alemany Malea won in straight sets at No. 4. But Tulsa’s Stefan Hampe took a 6-2, 7-5 win against Taylor to make it 3-2 before DiMarco outlasted Fanlo in a second-set tiebreaker to win 6-3, 7-6 (5).
 
Memphis played in the final of the first American Athletic Conference championship in 2014, but the Tigers had gone 0-3 in their next three semifinal appearances before Saturday’s win.
 
 
 
 
2022 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
April 22-24 | Michael D. Case Tennis Center | Tulsa, Oklahoma
 

Quarterfinals | Friday, April 22
No. 1 SMU 4, No. 8 Temple 2
No. 4 South Florida 4, No, 5 UCF 3
No. 4 Tulsa 4, No. 6 Tulane 0
No. 2 Memphis 4, No. 7 Wichita State 1
Semifinals | Saturday, April 23
SMU 4, South Florida 2
Memphis 4, Tulsa 3
Final | Sunday, April 24 | ESPN+
Memphis (15-7) vs. SMU (21-6)	1 p.m. ET/Noon CT