Adriano de Souza dominate Ricardo Santos in round two of 2011 Billabong Rio Pro
Brazil’s Adriano de Souza bounced back from a first round loss to defeat his compatriot, Ricardo Santos, in the fourth heat of the second round of Men’s 2011 Billabong Rio Pro at Arpoador beach resort in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 18.
De Souza has remained one of the most promising Brazilian through the current season of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men’s World Tour. He also credited himself with a victory over the legendary American surfer, Kelly Slater, in the quarter-final
of the Rip Curl Pro at Bell Beach in Victoria, Australia, last month to oust the World Number One surfer from the competition. After such excellent performance, there were high expectations from the Brazilian surfer.
However, De Souza failed to live up to the expectation on the first day of the men’s Billabong Rio Pro, though it would be a bit unfair to call his performance during the 11th heat of first round on Wednesday disappointing. He had put up a commendable
fight and lost to Australia’s Daniel Ross by a difference of merely 0.24.
Facing Santos in the second round, De Souza went on a rampage, choosing two perfect waves to throw down sensational tricks and turns to earn one of the highest heat total of the competition, 16.43.
With such a huge score to beat under the difficult surfing conditions, there was hardly anything that Santos could do. He ended the heat with a two-wave score of 12.66, surrendering the victory to his rival.
Talking to the media later, De Souza said, “It’s a good rebound after yesterday’s loss and I’m really stoked with my performance out there. I just tried to capitalize on Ricardo’s mistake in that heat and was really lucky to find two good waves out there.
I’m happy to see all of my friends on the beach, that’s what’s most important for me.”
It will be interesting to see if De Souza continues to display his form in the third round of the event that is expected to run down at Barra Da Tijuca on Thursday.
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