Hawk Talk Monthly — September | Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store
IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa redshirt senior Kareem Allaf won his first professional tournament last week with doubles partner Zachary Svajda at an ITF World Tennis Tour event in Champaign, Illinois.
Allaf and Svajda competed as wildcards in the tournament. Svaajda won the USTA Boy’s 18’s National Championship in August and received a wildcard into the U.S. Open Main Draw losing to world No. 121 Paolo Lorenzi from Italy in five sets.
The duo cruised in their Round of 16 match over Alex Bancila/Noe Khlif (6-2, 6-0). After defeating Liam Draxl/Kento Yamada in the quarterfinals, Allaf/Svajda advanced to the finals with a three-set triumph over Brown/Siphosothando (6-3, 2-6, 10-6). In the championship match, Blumeberg/Pucinelli de Almeida (7-5, 7-6).
In singles, Allaf was the No. 1 seed in the qualifying bracket and advanced to the main draw. Allaf won his first round match against No. 8 seed Alex Blumenberg (7-6, 4-6, 6-3), but fell in the quarterfinals to Tom Fawcett in three sets (0-6, 6-4, 6-3).
