Kristian Kiland and Jim Condon had given themselves a chance to win a championship and they dug deep to make it happen.
The local brothers were in Kamloops last weekend for the annual Sunshine Open tennis tournament and claimed the title in the men's A doubles division. In the final, they faced Jeremy Bell and Sean Seidman and lost the first set 6-2. In the second set, they were trailing 5-4 but held off a pair of match points and used that momentum to fight to a 7-5 victory. The third and deciding set went to a tiebreaker, which Kiland and Condon won in dominant fashion, 7-0.
"(It was) such an amazing moment, as this is the tournament myself and Jim have been traveling to for the longest," Kiland said. "This was Jim's 13th year at the Sunshine Open. He started out in the C singles in 2004, and now, 13 years later, we're finally champions of the whole event."
Bell is from Vernon and Seidman resides in Kelowna.
At the tournament, Prince George players also stroked to championships in the men's A singles and ladies A singles categories.
In the men's final, James Nearing defeated Bell 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinal round, Nearing outlasted Kiland 3-6, 6-1 and 7-2 in a third-set tiebreaker.
Meanwhile, in the women's final, Susie Walker topped Alyson Boone 4-6, 6-4 and, in another third-set tiebreaker, 7-2.
In the mixed A doubles final, Jim Condon and Nancy Condon lost 6-1, 6-2 to Al Lincoln (Kamloops) and Meryl Ogden (Vernon).
