ORLANDO, Fla. – SMU and Tulane will battle for the American Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Championship title Sunday after both teams earned hard-fought 4-3 victories in Saturday's semifinal round.
 
The Mustangs, who look to win back-to-back American titles, held off top-seeded Memphis, while Tulane rallied to top UCF.
 
Saturday's matches were the third and fourth consecutive contests in The American Championship to be decided by 4-3 scores. The other two matches in the tournament were 4-2 contests. Six of the eight teams in the bracket were listed in last week's ITA rankings.
 
SMU and Tulane met April 1 during the regular season as the Green Wave took a 4-2 decision in Tampa, Florida.
 
Sunday's championship final will be available live on ESPN+ with Kit McConnico, Mark Bey and Breanna Sorenson on the call. The latest information on The American Championship can be found on Championship Central.
 
 
SMU 4, Memphis 3
Records: SMU (17-13), Memphis (13-7)
 
Julian Steinhausen delivered the clinching point at No. 5 singles for the second consecutive match as No. 4-seeded SMU outlasted top-seeded Memphis 4-3 in the semifinal round Friday.
 
The Mustangs advance to the final of The American Championship for the second consecutive season and will play for their second straight American title Sunday at noon ET.
 
Steinhausen, who closed out SMU's 4-2 win against Tulsa in the quarterfinals, won a three-set battle with Memphis' Jeremy Taylor in the semifinals, ending the match with his 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory.
 
Memphis' Pau Fanlo had forged a 3-3 tie in the team score with his three-set win at No. 6 singles before Steinhausen denied the Tigers' comeback bid.
 
Memphis had won the doubles point to take an early lead, but SMU took the first three singles matches to finish to build a 3-1 advantage. Adam Neff won a battle of nationally ranked players at No. 1 singles as the No. 65-ranked Neff won a 6-0, 6-3 decision against No. 69 Pablo Alemany to put the Mustangs on the board.
 
Pranav Kumar followed with a straight-set win at No. 4, and Antonio Muniz-Hidalgo won in straight sets at No. 3 to put SMU ahead 3-1.
 
Memphis answered with Oscar Cutting's 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles to close within one before Fanlo tied with his three set win.
 
 
 
Tulane 4, UCF 3
Records: Tulane (15-10), UCF (11-12)
 
Billy Suarez and Luc Hoeijmans won three-set matches at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively, to rally No. 2-seeded Tulane to a 4-3 win against No. 3-seeded UCF Saturday in a semifinal matchup.
 
The win sends Tulane to The American Championship final for the first time since 2018, when the Green Wave won the conference title. 
 
Suarez also won in doubles as he paired with Benji Jacobson for a 6-3 win at the No. 2 spot, allowing Luka Petrovic and Sam Scherer to clinch the first team point with their 7-6 (4) win at No. 1.
 
Mehdi Benchakroun put UCF on the board with an efficient 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles, but Tulane reclaimed the lead on Rafael de Alba's 6-1, 7-5 victory at No. 6. The Knights then got two wins at the top of the ladder as Bogan Pavel and Lleyton Cronje won their matches by identical 7-6 (3), 6-3 scores, giving the Knights a 3-2 edge.
 
Needing both remaining courts to advance, Hoeijmans turned in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 victory at No. 4 singles and Suarez overcame a first-set loss to prevail 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 at No. 3.