A mouth-watering battle between two South Coast talents will kick off day two of the Kiama Open on Monday.
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Stanwell Park's Kalani Ball and Corrimal's Nic Squiers will face off in a second round heat when the Open resumes. The pair are up against Axel Rose-Curotta and Kai Warner, with the top two competitors to advance to a quarter-final.
A national title win would cap off a big weekend for Ball and Squiers, who guided Scarborough Boardriders to victory in the Australian Boardriders Battle Southern Qualifier on Saturday.
The result earned Scarborough a spot in the national final, to be held in 2021.
The five-person Scarborough team took top honours in all of their heats to book a spot in Saturday's final. They also shone in the decider, mustering high scores to claim victory from Bondi Boardriders and Maroubra United while Ulladulla finished fourth.
Ball in particular was in red-hot form, securing the Oakley Prizm Award as the competition's standout individual performer.
Scarborough Boardriders manager Christian De Clouett said it was a terrific performance by Ball.
"I really appreciate Surfing NSW and all the clubs coming and being part of this awesome day," he said.
"We had a pretty special day with Kalani not dropping a score under an eight and the rest of the club pulling together to put on an incredible performance and to take this after just missing out on the national final last year is an awesome feeling.
"We can't wait to get there."
The qualifier was held as a curtain raiser to the Kiama Open, which is the fifth round of the 2020 Australian Open of Surfing Series.
Ball and Squiers' good form in the qualifier carried over into day one of the Open. Ball posted an impressive score of 13.57 to advance to Monday's second round. Squiers finished runner-up in his heat to Cronulla's Jarvis Earle, however, his score of 11.56 was good enough to keep his campaign alive.
Other South Coast talent in the hunt for the open men's title on Monday include Corrimal's Mannix Greentree-Squires, Ulladulla's Luke O'Connell, Mollymook surfer Brett Burcher and Gerroa's Dean Bowen.
In the open women's draw, Shell Cove teenager Oceanna Rogers will be full of confidence following a standout performance on Sunday at Werri Beach.
Rogers posted a superb first-round heat score of 16.40 to book her spot in a quarter-final on Monday.
Joining Rogers in the next round are fellow South Coast talent Zahlia Short (Corrimal), Werri Beach's Holly Wishart and Port Kembla teenager Charli Hurst.
The 2020 Kiama Open is set to conclude on Monday. Competitors will vie for the $1500 on offer for the open men's and women's winners.