Adriano de Souza down Bede Durbidge to move into Rip Curl Pro Portugal Final – 2011 ASP World Tour
Brazil’s Adriano de Souza found himself face to face with Australia’s Bede Durbidge in the second Semi-Final of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, the ninth of eleven stops on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, at the iconic beach-break of Supertubos
in Peniche, Portugal, on Tuesday, October 18.
The battle turned out to be pretty intense with both the surfers fighting tooth and nail during the 30-minute bout. In the end, however, it was De Souza who managed to walk away with top honours and thus secured his place in the Finals, bringing the competition
to a premature end for Durbidge.
The 24-year-old De Souza had not gotten off to a perfect start at the latest stop of the elite tour, tripping in the first round. However, he had managed to pull himself together just in time and bounced back strongly in Round 2. From there on, the Brazilian
force remained pretty headstrong and looked extremely impressive in his heats. The momentum carried him through the remaining rounds of the competitions and Quarter-Final to eventually reach the Semi-Final, where he was met by Durbidge.
Durbidge may not have been the most likely candidate for the Semi-Finals, but he sure taught everyone that it was not wise to undermine him. Taking down opponent after opponent, he made his way through into the Semi-Finals to face De Souza for an opportunity
to get his hands on a shot at the title.
With clean three-to-five foot waves on offer at the primary event site, the second Semi-Final got underway. De Souza caught a wave in the opening minutes of the heat to open his account with a 6.83-point wave. Keeping the charge going, he added an additional
7.00 to his account and moved to a two-wave total of 13.83 points.
Durbidge caught a couple of good waves as well to earn a 7.03 and 5.00 off them. Despite the commendable effort, the score proved to be inadequate and caused him to finish in a 1.80-point deficit. Thus, he was forced to surrender victory to De Souza, sending
him through into the Final.
Despite the Semi-Final loss, Durbidge did not sound too disappointed as he was talking to a reporter after the heat. Commenting on the event and the way it had ended for him, the Australian said, “It’s been a big event for me here so I can’t be upset with
losing there. We’ve had incredible waves throughout the event and I just didn’t have the rhythm there in the Semi-Final. It’s a big result for me and hopefully that turns my year around heading into the last two events.”
The third place finish in Rip Curl Pro Portugal moved Durbidge from 18th to 15th place on the ASP World Title Rankings and with two more events left before the conclusion of the season, he could hope to move even higher in the Rankings.
With his win the Semi-Final, De Souza moved into the Final to take on America’s Kelly Slater in a battle for the event-title.
For updates on the Final of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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