Adrian Buchan prevails over Heitor Alves in Round 3 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
Australia’s Adrian Buchan defeated Brazil’s Heitor Alves in the fourth heat of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay’s Round 3 on Saturday, July 23rd, at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa.
The success in the third round allowed the 28-year-old Australian to advance to the fourth round, while bringing the Brazilian's competition to a premature end.
Both surfers had gotten off to a shaky start at the South African stop of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, getting relegated to Round 2 after tasting defeat in the first round. However, they pulled themselves together in time and
made a solid impact in the second round.
Buchan dominated America’s Cory Lopez, while Alves ousted America’s in-form Patrick Gudauskas from the competition in their Round 2 heats to earn their place in the third round.
Pitted against each other in the fourth heat of Round 3, the Australian and Brazilian were expected to put up a determined fight to keep themselves alive in the competition and knock each other out.
As the heat kicked off, the difference in forms of the two rivals soon became evident. While Buchan’s luck had pretty much bailed on him and there were hardly any waves coming in his direction, Alves was getting blessed by waves throughout the course of
the heat.
Despite the huge disadvantage and tough luck, the Australian managed to make the most of what came his way. In the early stages of the heat, he locked a wave to show-off his surfing prowess, earning 6.73 points for the effort and taking the lead. Soon, he
caught an even better wave and this time successfully added a 6.97 to his account, moving to a heat-total of 13.70 points.
Even though he was being showered with waves, Alves was failing to capitalise on them. After a series of waves, he earned his first decent score of 5.50 to narrow the difference between him and Buchan on the scoreboard.
The hunt for another good score continued but the Brazilian was constantly failing to collect a score good enough to take him past his rival. He eventually settled for a 3.27-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 8.77 points. The 4.93-point deficit extinguished
his hopes for the event-title, putting him out of the competition.
Buchan will now compete in Round 4 and a success in that round will take him directly into the quarter-finals.
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