The championship came down to Jack Gibbons of Pierceton, Indiana versus Shelby Allen of Brownsburg, Indiana Sunday afternoon at the Fast4 Summer Open in North Webster, Indiana. After a quick 4-0 first set win by Gibbons, Allen rallied to even the score at a set apiece with a 4-2 second set victory. This left a Fast4 tiebreaker to determine the championship.
Jack Gibbons forged his path to the finals by beating Kelsey Harper (Warsaw, IN) in the first round in straight sets, Clayton Firestone (Leesburg, IN) via a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals and Joe Bowsher (Indianapolis, IN) in a third-set tiebreaker in the semifinals.
Shelby Allen received a first round bye, then beat last year’s Challenger Series Champion Kiah Farrington (Pierceton, IN) in straight sets in the quarterfinals. Holden Babb (Syracuse, IN) was next to fall to Allen in the semifinals in a third-set tiebreaker, setting up the finals against Gibbons which went to a determining final set tiebreaker.
(From L-R) Holden Babb, Jack Gibbons, Shelby Allen and Joe Bowsher
Fast4 tiebreakers are played to 5. If the tiebreaker reaches 4-all, both opponents have to approach the net and spin the racquet to determine who serves the final point to determine the entire set. And that was exactly how the entire tournament ended. One final point determined the entire championship.
Gibbons won that final point in a third-set tiebreaker to claim this year’s Fast4 Summer Open championship. Jack will be a high school junior this fall as he plans to transfer from Central Noble High School to Wawasee High School. He has trained at Staley Tennis Academy for two years under Coach Shane Staley.
After the trophy acceptance, Jack had this to say…
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work with Coach Staley at his academy these past few years and participating in this tournament was an opportunity to reap the benefits of this hard work. It feels great to get to accept this trophy after competing against some very tough opponents throughout the tournament.”
—Jack Gibbons, 2019 Fast4 Open Champion
More information on Jack Gibbons can be found on his player profile page at Staley Tennis Academy.
Staley Tennis is a North Webster Indiana-based training academy for juniors and a professional verified UTR tennis club that adults and juniors can join for free. For more information on joining this club and playing in future leagues and tournaments, please visit the official Staley Tennis Club Page.
Staley Tennis is a Northern Indiana-based tennis training academy for juniors and a professional verified UTR club for both juniors and adults. For more information on joining this club and playing in future leagues and tournaments, please visit the official Staley Tennis Club site.
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