Ado downs Blanchard to reach Vans US Open of Surfing quarter-finals – Surfing news
France’s Pauline Ado successfully secured her place in the quarter-finals at the Vans US Open of Surfing, the sixth of eight stops on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Championship Tour, after claiming a convincing victory
over Hawaii’s Alana Blanchard in the fourth heat of Round 4, which went down at the Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, on Friday, July 26, 2013.
The French surfer turned out to be on-song during her battle against the dangerous Hawaiian ripper for a place in the next stage of the competition.
“Alana (Blanchard) rips and I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy heat,” Ado said. “This is my first Quarterfinals at the US Open and I’m pretty happy. I think I’m going to be against Sally (Fitzgibbons) and it’s going to be tough to beat. I’m just going
to do my best.”
Both Ado and Blanchard had held their own against some pretty formidable talent during the initial rounds of the latest elite tour event to reach the third round of the competition. However, they found themselves stumbling and consequently getting forced
to take a trip to Round 4, which presented them one more chance to reserve a place for themselves in the quarter-finals.
Determined to capitalise on the opportunity, both the surfers held nothing back as they locked horns in the battle for the last remaining spot in the next stage of the competition.
The peaky two-to-four foot waves had plenty of juice in them, but demanded some excellent wave selections from the surfers before awarding them big scores.
The 21-year-old Ado got off to a slow start, but gradually warmed up to the conditions and eventually began to gain momentum. Locking a couple of juicy waves, she unloaded a series of exquisite manoeuvres to get to a heat-total of 14.50 points.
Blanchard, however, struggled to find her rhythm. Despite her desperate search for scores that would allow her to surpass her rival on the scoreboard, she only managed to get to a heat-total of 11.93 points. As a result, she was forced to concede victory
to her French rival.
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