ORLANDO, Fla. – Memphis scored a convincing win in its opening match, while Temple and Houston overcame early deficits to cap the opening day of competition at the 2023 American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship Wednesday at the USTA National Campus.
 
Memphis was a 4-0 winner against Cincinnati while Temple took a 4-2 win against Tulane and Houston was a 4-2 winner against East Carolina.
 
The top five seeds in the tournament begin play Thursday as quarterfinal-round play begins.
 
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+.
 
 
Temple 4, Tulane 2
Records: Temple (16-4), Tulane (7-10)
 
Thamara Frasser Kawaratani won a three-set battle at No. 1 singles to give No. 9-seeded its first American Athletic Conference Championship win since 2015 with a 4-2 victory against No. 8-seeded Tulane Wednesday morning.
 
The Owls, who had been 1-7 all-time in The American Championship entering Wednesday's match, won four of the five completed singles matches after Tulane had claimed the doubles point.
 
Temple claimed the first three singles matches as Maiko Uchijimi, Sena Takebe and Veronika Kulhava all won in straight sets to give the Owls a 3-1 lead.
 
Tulane made it 3-2 when Jiayun Zhu took a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles, leaving the match in the hands of the players at No. 1 and No. 2 singles.
 
Tulane's Adelaide Lavery threatened to tie the match at 3-3 as she built a 5-3 lead in the third set at No. 2. But Kwaratani battled back at No. 1 after dropping the first set to win a second-set tiebreaker before claiming a 6-4 win in the third.
 
Tulane had earned the doubles point, capped by a 6-3 win at No. 1 by Charlotte Russell and Lahari Yelamanchili, who defeated Temple's 19th-ranked tandem of Maiko Uchijima and Jamie Wei.
 
Temple advances to face No. 1-seeded SMU Thursday at 9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT in a quarterfinal matchup.
 
 
Memphis 4, Cincinnati 0
Records: Memphis (9-12), Cincinnati (8-14)
 
Camila Soares and Aran Teixido-Garcia won in both singles and doubles as No. 6-seeded Memphis took a 4-0 win against No. 11-seeded Cincinnati Wednesday afternoon in an opening-round match.
 
Soares was a 6-3, 6-0 winner at No. 1 singles and paired with Monique Woog for a 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles. Teixido-Garcia also took a straight-set singles win with a 6-3, 6-1 decision at No. 2, while she joined Emily Meyer for a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles.
 
Micah Pierce clinched the match for Memphis with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles.
 
The Tigers improved to 9-12 with the win, including a 5-1 mark against American Athletic Conference opponents this season. It was the eighth win for Memphis in the Tigers' last 11 matches.
 
Memphis, the 2022 American Athletic Conference Champion, advances to face No. 3-seeded South Florida Thursday at noon ET/11 a.m. CT in the quarterfinals.
 
 
Houston 4, East Carolina 2
Records: Houston (14-8), East Carolina (9-10)
 
No. 7-seeded Houston won four consecutive singles matches to overcome an early 2-0 deficit and take a 4-2 win against No. 10-seeded East Carolina Wednesday afternoon in a first-round match.
 
Sonya Kovalenko clinched the match with a three-set win at No. 6 singles as she claimed a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 decision. Kovalenko also won in doubles as she paired with Azul Pedemonti for a 7-6 (4) victory at the No. 2 position.
 
East Carolina had built an early 1-0 lead after the Pirates won a closely contested doubles point that saw two of the three positions go to tiebreakers. The Pirates' tandem of Kim Auerswald and Anne Lou Champion outlasted the Cougars' tandem for a 9-7 tiebreaker win at No. 3 to give ECU the first team point.
 
The Pirates took a 2-0 lead on Martina Muzzolon's 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles, but the Cougars got on the board when Sophie Schouten took a 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 decision at No. 5.
 
Gabriela Cortes and Maria Dzemeshkevich followed with straight-set wins at No. 4 and No. 2 to put the Cougars ahead, setting the stage for Kovalenko's closeout at No. 6.
 
Houston moves on to the quarterfinals, where the Cougars will face No. 3-seeded UCF Thursday at noon ET/11 a.m. CT.