Round three of Subaru Pro TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival concludes: 2011 ASP World Tour
The third round of the Subaru Pro TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival wrapped up on Friday afternoon, April 29, at the Back Beach in Taranaki, New Zealand.
The world’s top female surfers had no intention of holding anything back as they battled each other and determined to get to the next stage and a little closer to the title and the prize money that awaited them in the end.
After an intense round two, the contest moved on to round three in the afternoon. The event organisers wanted to make up for the lost time due to strong winds that had delayed the initial round of this year’s competition. The suitable conditions allowed
the third round to commence without any delay.
The afternoon session kicked off with the first heat featuring the ASP World Tour rookie from Australia, Tyler Wright, battling against Brazil’s Silvana Lima and Australia’s Rebecca Woods. While she was seen struggling on the first day of the contest, Wright
came back strongly and won her second heat of the day to secure a place in the quarter-finals. She scored 15.00 while Lima and Woods finished off with 13.50 and 10.75 respectively.
The second heat of round three pitted America’s ASP World Tour rookie, Courtney Conlogue, against ASP World No.1 and event’s defending champion, Carissa Moore, from Hawaii and France’s Pauline Ado. Even though she was against one of the best in the sport,
Conlogue held and nerve and managed to give a sensational performance. She triumphed over her competitors by earning 16.35 against Moore’s 14.50 and Ado’s 12.60. Conlogue has confirmed her place in the quarter-final with this victory.
In heat three, Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons faced her compatriot, Chelsea Hedges, and Hawaii’s Melanie Bartels in to move to the quarter-final. Fresh from a successful finish at Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Fitzgibbons was making a strong impact at the third
stop of ASP World Tour as well. She came down strongly in the first round and continued to dominate her rivals in the latest round as well. Scoring 9.75 off her first wave and 9.25 off her second for a total of 19.00, she easily made her way to the next stage.
Her rivals, Hedges and Bartels, finished the heat with a final score of 12.40 and 10.40 respectively.
“I guess I just have a lot of confidence right now,” Fitzgibbon told a journalist after her heat. “I feel like my surfing was improving especially at the start of the year and I really wanted to bring that to my events and try to showcase some of the things
I've been working on.”
The final heat of the day featured Hawaii’s Coco Ho, New Zealand’s Paige Hareb and Australia’s Stephanie Gimore. Ho managed to clinch the win with her total score of 14.65, while Hareb scored 12.50 and Gimore finished with 11.3.
Four surfers have confirmed their places in the quarter-finals. The rest of the quarter-final field will be determined after round 4, took place on Saturday, April 30.
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