James Nearing is the defending champion of the Prince George Citizen Open.
For him to win it again this weekend, he knows he has to get through Kristian Kiland.
The city's top two players have developed a great rivalry the past three years, ever since Nearing moved to the city from Ontario. They met in the tournament's advanced men's division final in 2014 and Kiland won in a third-set tiebreaker. Last year, Nearing claimed the Matt Altizer Memorial Trophy in straight sets, defeating Kiland 6-2, 6-4, but this time around, Nearing knows it likely won't be that easy.
"This will be the rubber match, if we make it to the finals together," said Nearing. "He has another year of school under his belt and more experience playing matches at college. He's Number 2 in his college team and it looks like he's gotten a lot better.
"We played a singles match this year and he ended up winning that in three sets (4-6, 6-4, 6-3). He's gotten a lot faster. He's pretty agile around the court and gets everything back. He's a little more accurate on the serves for picking the corners, so if I want to beat him this year I'll have to hold the service game. It's going to be tough to play Kristian this year, there are no easy points."
Kiland, a 21-year-old Kelly Road secondary school graduate, just completed his third year at Doane College in Crete, Neb., where he plays for the Tigers tennis team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). He was named an All-American on Monday, an honour that came on the heels of being selected as a first-team conference all-star. Kiland also made the Great Plains Athletic Conference first team in singles and doubles.
Kiland's brother, Jim Condon, is also a contender for the singles crown and will team up with Kiland in the men's doubles event this weekend. Nearing said he won't be entering the doubles tournament.
The tournament starts at 5 p.m. on Friday and the club is hoping to attract a full slate of advanced, intermediate and beginner players for the three-day event at the Prince George Tennis Club, located adjacent to the Prince George Golf and Curling Club clubhouse next to Pine Centre Mall.
Interested players can submit entry forms to pgtennisclub@gmail.com or to the coaches' hut at courtside during office hours.
