Adriano de Souza and Michel Bourez enter Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The crowd kept getting treated to a heavy dose of thrilling action at the iconic beach-break of Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, on Monday, October 17, as Brazil’s Adriano de Souza squared off with Portugal’s Justin Mujica in the third, while Tahiti’s Michel
Bourez faced Australia’s Adam Melling in the fourth heat of Rip Curl Pro Portugal’s Round 2.
The third heat saw De Souza put up an outstanding performance to walk away with top honours and consequently move into Round 3 while bringing the competition to a premature end for Mujica.
The fourth heat turned out to be extremely intense, with both Melling and Bourez fighting tooth and nail until the end. In the end, however, it was the latter who managed to emerge triumphant and advance into the next round, eliminating his opponent from
the event as a result.
With high-performance six-to-eight foot waves gracing the primary event site on Monday, a series of thrilling battles between the ASP elite was expected. The surfers were also expected to put forward their best performance in order to survive the elimination
round and extend their life in the competition by moving into the next round.
The third heat pitted the 24-year-old De Souza against the local wildcard, Mujica, in a head-to-head battle for the Round 3 spot. The Brazilian had failed to done justice to his repute in the first round and hence found himself standing on the edge, desperate
for a good performance to keep himself from getting eliminated from the competition.
As the battle got underway, De Souza got off to a slow start but gradually built momentum to eventually lock a juicy wave and unlock a string of impressive tricks, consequently posting a 9.00 on the score-board. He followed in up with a 7.83-point wave to
finish with a heat-total of 16.83 points. The score proved to be decisive, carrying him off to victory and sending him through into the third round.
Mujica struggled hold his own throughout the entirety of the 30-minute heat and only managed to collect a 3.67 and 4.97 off his top-two waves, finishing with a heat-total of 8.64 points. The lacklustre performance resulted in his elimination from the competition.
The 25-year-old Bourez took on the experienced Melling in the fourth heat of Round 2. Both the surfers put up a remarkable fight for top honours, not giving each other any room to relax.
As the man-on-man battle began, Bourez wasted no time in making a charge by locking a wave to collect 8.10 points off it. Melling immediately responded with a 6.50-point wave to relieve some pressure.
As the battle progressed, the Tahiti-based surfer added another 8.67 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 16.77 points. The score put him significantly ahead of his Australian rival, though the heat was far from over. Melling made a determined
charge in the final minutes of the heat by giving his last wave his all, but the effort turned out to be futile and he failed to acquire the necessary score off it. He eventually finished with a heat-total of 15.23 points, consequently forced to concede victory
to Bourez.
For more updates on Round 2 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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