Alejo Muniz forces his way into the Quiksilver Pro France Quarter-Finals – 2011 ASP World Tour
The ninth of eleven stops on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Quiksilver Pro France, kept delivering a heavy dose of thrilling action to the crowd as South Africa’s Jordy Smith squared off with Brazil’s Alejo Muniz and Australia’s
Julian Wilson in the third heat of Round 4 that went down at the beach-break of La Graviere in France on Tuesday, October 11.
Muniz took control of the heat right from the word go and maintained pressure on his opponents until the very end to eventually walk away with top honours, getting his place confirmed in the Quarter-Finals as a result. Smith rounded out the second position,
while Wilson finished third. The failure to clinch victory led to their relegation into Round 5.
The clean five-foot waves gracing the event site seemed really promising, but the shifting nature of these waves kept the surfers at bay and made it extremely difficult for them to squeeze a big score off them. With the competition running for quite a while
now, the elite ASP surfers were expected to adjust to the conditions and not use it as an excuse for a lacklustre performance. However, it seemed that many of them were still far from comfortable in the waves at the primary event site.
It was under these demanding conditions that the third heat of Round 4 got under-way, pitting Muniz, Smith and Wilson against each other in a battle for the coveted Quarter-Final spot. All three surfers had looked to be in great form so far, making it extremely
difficult to say with certainty how their showdown would end.
As the 30-minute heat got underway, Muniz drew first blood by utilising a wave to post a 5.60 on the score-board and taking an early lead. Smith soon responded with a 5.27-point wave to minimise the pressure. Wilson, on the other hand, struggled to get a
good wave during the early stages of the battle and only managed to collect a 4.23 off his first business-wave.
As the heat got past the half-way stage, Smith added an additional 5.83 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 11.10 points for a momentary lead, which he got stripped off almost instantly by Muniz. The Brazilian locked on to a wave to unload a
string of exquisite tricks, collecting 7.50 points for the effort and moving to a heat-total of 13.10 points.
Wilson was unable to threaten Smith’s lead after failing to get a solid score off his second business-wave and finished with a heat-total of 10.03 points, which resulted in his third position. With neither of his two competitors getting an adequate score
off their two business-waves, Muniz eventually walked away with top honours, consequently stepping into the Quarter-Finals.
Smith and Wilson were expected to put up a much better fight, but even though they failed to deliver during Round 4, they still remained in contention for the event-title and had an opportunity to get into the Quarter-Finals by putting up a much better performance
in Round 5.
For updates on Round 4 of Quiksilver Pro France, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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