James Nearing knew capturing his first Prince George Citizen Open Championship tennis title wouldn't be easy.
Especially since he would have to defeat Kristian Kiland, the defending champion from a year ago.
Kiland won the 2014 title in a three-set tiebreaker against Nearing in an epic battle between the top-two seeds.
On Sunday afternoon under bright, warmy and sunny skies at the Prince George Tennis Club, the top-two players met again. This time though, Nearing got revenge, defeating Kiland in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 to win the advanced men's singles title on Court 4.
"It was a great match by Kristian, he played fast and quick around the court," said Nearing, who was presented the Matt Altizer Memorial Cup trophy for winning the championship. "He extends rallies and I had to move him around the court. I tried to go for placement of the balls in the corners."
In the first set, Nearing broke Kiland's service game twice to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Kiland got on the scoreboard when he held on to his serve to win the next game. After they each held onto their serves in the next two games, Nearing closed the set out with his next service game.
"I was trying not lose any service games," said Nearing, a 25-year-old process engineer who works at Husky Energy. "I was trying to kick serve and hit stronger shots and running around the backhands so I could hit the forehand. I just tried to get a quick start on him and be aggressive."
The match was tied at 2-2 in the second set until Nearing broke Kiland in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead. He widened his lead to 4-2 when he hung onto his serve. Nearing took a 5-4 lead into the 10th game and served for the match. Trailing 40-30, Kiland's forehand sailed long and Nearing won the game and the title.
"James was on top of his game today and it's always fun to play a high level of tennis against him," said Kiland, the 20-year-old PGTC coach and club manager who just completed his sophomore tennis season at Doane College in Crete, Neb. "I know James has been working very hard on his game.
"In the second set it was closer and I was just really sticking with my game and didn't really change too much. I needed to execute my shots."
Kiland reached the championship match after he defeated Christopher Li 2-1 (3-6, 7-5, 6-3) in a gruelling two-hour semifinal on Saturday. Both players experienced cramps and Li had a suspected lateral collateral ligament injury and was hobbling on one leg throughout doubles play.
In the other semifinal, Nearing toppled Kiland's brother Jim Condon in straight-sets, 6-0, 6-0 in a match that only took 25 minutes to play.
Condon and Kiland teamed up to win the men's double title in the four-team round-robin, defeating Li and Nathan Teegee in their last match.
Nearing did not play men's doubles this year, opting to conserve his energy for men's singles. Nearing, a Queen's University graduate who played one year of university tennis in Kingston, Ont., plans to compete in a few more tournaments in Kamloops and Kelowna this summer.
Ditto for Kiland who gets in plenty of playing time at PGTC as a coach.
Soggy and wet conditions on Friday night and Saturday morning delayed the start of the Prince George Citizen Open championship tournament until Saturday afternoon when the rain finally stopped. Play continued until 9 p.m. Saturday night and resumed Sunday morning.
