Adam Melling and Alejo Muniz survive Round 3 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
The fourth of eleven stops on Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Billabong Pro Jeffreys Pro, continued with the ninth and tenth heat of Round 3 on Saturday, July 23rd, at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa.
Australia’s Adam Melling took down his compatriot Owen Wright in the ninth heat, to enter Round 4 of the event, while removing his rival from the event.
The tenth heat saw Brazil’s Alejo Muniz create the biggest upset of the day by eliminating his country-man and the current leader in the ASP World Championship title race, Adriano De Souza, from the competition to advance to the fourth round.
Both Melling and Wright had gotten off to a rather disappointing start at the current event, losing the battle in their first heat to get relegated to Round 2. However, a strong rebound in the second round had allowed them to extend their life in the competition,
though they were faced with yet another sudden-death battle in Round 3, this time pitted against each other for survival.
As the ninth heat kicked off, the 26-year-old Melling wasted no time in putting his rival under pressure. Catching a really good wave instantly, he threw down a string of impressive stunts to collect a 7.93 from the judges. Though it took some time, the
21-year-old Wright was eventually able to ease some pressure off his shoulders after scoring 6.67 off a wave in the later stages of the heat.
Melling immediately increased the gap between himself and his rival once again, locking a wave to score 5.50 points off it to move to a two-wave total of 13.43 points. Wright tried to fight back, but only managed to score 5.77 off his last wave, finishing
with a heat-total of 12.44 points. The 0.99-point deficit forced him out of the competition, while putting Melling into the next round.
The next heat featured Muniz facing De Souza for survival. The two Brazilian surfers had been making waves in surfing competitions over recent months, though the 24-year-old De Souza enjoyed a better reputation because of his superb performance in the current
ASP World Tour so far.
Regardless of the difference in the rankings of the two surfers, where De Souza currently sat at top while Muniz occupied the 13th slot, it was the 21-year-old who managed to come up with the superior performance to clinch the win and put his
opponent out of the competition.
Muniz caught a wave early in the heat to collect 6.50 points off it, getting an early lead. He soon added an impressive 7.43 points to his account to move to a heat-total of 13.93 points.
De Souza was expected to comfortably get past his rival’s two-wave total, but the outcome of the heat turned out to be quite the opposite. Apparently he was still struggling to regain the form that he had been evidently lacking for some weeks now.
The out-of-form De Souza once again faltered early in the competition, this time just making it to the third round. Scoring 5.27 points off his first wave and 6.77 points off his second, he finished with a heat-total of 12.04 points. The disappointing performance
forced him out of the competition, much to the disappointment of his fans.
The early exit from the competition would definitely affect his standings in the ASP World Tour rankings.
For more updates on Round 3 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay turned to bettor.com
Tags: