Kalani Ball hopes that winning the Kiama Open will put him on track to claim this year's Australian Open of Surfing series.
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The Stanwell Park athlete was in terrific form during the Open, capping it off by securing victory in the open men's final on Monday afternoon. Ball posted an impressive score of 17.77 in the decider to hold off a strong challenge from series contender Dylan Moffatt and pocket the $1500 prize money at Werri Beach.
The Kiama Open was the third NSW leg of the series and it was Ball's second win in the 2020 competition, after taking out the Cronulla Open earlier this month.
Ball said he was delighted to back up that result.
"I'm so stoked to take that one out so close to home. Just being able to drive down every day was awesome," the 23-year-old said.
"I've heard they're taking the top three results [for the series] so it puts me in a really good spot when I do the next one I'm in. Hopefully I can get a big result there, I'd love to take out the series."
Ball posted a score of 13.57 in Sunday's first round heat to advance to a quarter-final on Monday. While he finished second to fellow South Coast talent Dean Bowen, Ball's 15.17 was enough to book a spot in the semi finals.
In the penultimate round, Ball posted a superb individual score of 17 to advance to the final against Moffatt, Jarvis Earle and Nathan Kawani.
Ball then saved his best for last. He posted an 8.10 wave score in the first heat before backing it up with an event-high score of 9.67.
His combined total of 17.77 saw him claim the open men's title from Moffatt (16.10). Earle finished third with a score of 14.40 from Kawani (6.60) in fourth.
"There was some amazing talent in the event, especially in the final," Ball said.
"Young Jarvis Earle is an amazing surfer coming up and Dylan Moffatt has got second in all three so far. He's been on a tear but he just hasn't got the win yet. But I'm sure it's just around the corner for him.
"It was small [surf]. Pretty much nowhere else on the coast was breaking, but somehow it had a two-foot bank with a real left and right peak. So we got super lucky with the conditions, it was pretty fun all weekend."
Despite the global impact of COVID-19, Ball appears to be going from stride to stride in the surf this year.
So what has been the secret to his success? The man himself believes it comes down to having an old-fashioned work ethic.
"I've just been knuckling down and training, and surfing as much as I can," Ball said. "I'm just trying to balance that between work really. I spend most of my spare time surfing or training."