ORLANDO, Fla.—University of Hawaii women's tennis player Petra Melounova cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 straight-set win over Michigan's 47th-ranked Chiara Lommer in the Second Round of the NCAA Women's Singles Championships on Tuesday morning. Melounova made history by becoming the first Rainbow Wahine to win two matches at the NCAA Tournament to advance into the Round of 16 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.. Melounova will take on the Felicity Maltby (Texas Tech) on Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. HT on Court 2.
 
Melounova, who entered the tournament ranked No. 61 in the ITA rankings, fell behind early in Set 1, 0-2. But she quickly came right back to even things up at 2-2. The frame was tied again at 3-3 after both players broke each other. Melounova then took a 5-3 lead after breaking Lommer and then held her own serve. She eventually captured the first set, 6-4.
 
The second set was all Melounova as she frustrated Lommer with her punishing groundstrokes. Melounova took a 5-0 lead before Lommer was able to hold her serve to trail 5-1. Melounova then served for the match which ended on a forehand winner to the deep corner.
 
It marked Melounova's ninth-straight singles win as she improved to 15-4 this season. The win was her fifth over a higher-ranked opponent this season—(in chronological order) No. 34 Salma Ewing (USC), No. 30 Julia Rosenqvist (California), No. 86 Maddie Pothoff (Santa Clara), No. 60 Jessica Golovin (LSU), and No. 47 Chiara Lommer (Michigan).

The electrical engineering major is the first player from the Big West Conference to advance to the NCAA tournament's Round of 16 since UC Santa Barbara's Jean Okada accomplished the feat in 1996.
 
On Wednesday in the Round of 16, Melounova will take on Felicity Maltby (Texas Tech). Maltby entered the tournament ranked No. 22. On Monday, Maltby upset No. 18 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt). She punched her ticket into the Round of 16 with a 6-4. 7-6 win over Aiwen Zhu (UNLV) in the second round. The 105th-ranked Zhu had upset No. 26 Oleksandra Korashvili (Oklahoma) on Monday.

NCAA Women's Singles Championship
Round of 16
Who: Petra Melounova (Hawai'i) vs. Felicity Maltby (Texas Tech)
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Time: 12:00 pm HT
Livestats: http://mis.smtinternetservices.com/ncaachamps/
Television: Selected matches will be televised on the Tennis Channel (Spectrum Ch. 243/1243)
No Livestreaming Video available
Site: USTA National Campus - Orlando, Fla. (Court #2)