Carissa Moore and Coco Ho prevail in opening round of Nike US Open of Surfing
Hawaii’s Carissa Moore and her fellow countryperson Coco Ho headed straight into the third round of Nike US Open of Surfing, the final stop on the 2012 Women’s Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, after claiming top honours
in their respective Round 1 heats that went down at Huntington Beach in California, America, on Tuesday, July 31.
Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich and France’s Justine Dupont finished behind Moore in second and third place respectively during the fifth heat, which led to their relegation to Round 2 to surf again for a place in the third round.
The sixth heat saw Australia’s Laura Enever finished in second place, while France’s Pauline Ado finished in third place after succumbing to Ho. Both the surfers consequently tripped into the relegation round.
With the top female surfers from around the world in contention for top honours at the final stop on the women’s elite tour, there was plenty of action in store for the huge crowd that had gathered at the primary event site.
Moore, former ASP Women’s World Champions and current No.3 on Women’s World Rankings, put on a powerful performance. She locked her first business-wave to post a 9.00, highest single-wave score of the opening round, on the score-board and added an additional
7.83 points to her account in the final minutes of the wave, thus finishing with a heat-total of 16.83 points, which saw her through to a comfortable win.
“I was just happy to sneak a few waves,” Moore said. “There wasn’t much in that heat and I’m just stoked that I got those. I always look forward to coming to the US Open and I look forward to this week of craziness. I’m just like surfing in front of all
of the people. It’s a great platform to perform.”
Mulanovich finished in second place after registering a heat-total of 10.44 points, which included a 4.57 and 5.87 points, while Dupont had to settle for bottom-position after finishing with a heat-total of 9.00 points, which included a 2.83 and 6.17 points.
The final heat of Round 1 saw Ho walk away with the win after getting the better of Enever and Ado in a low-scoring affair. The Hawaiian surfer posted a 4.27 on the scoreboard in the opening minutes of the heat and went on to back it up with an additional
5.83 points, thus finishing with a heat-total of 10.10 points.
Enever collected a couple of scores in the four-point range, thus finishing with a heat-total of 9.70 points, while Ado rounded out the bottom-position after scoring a 4.83 and 3.93 off her best-two waves for a heat-total of 8.76 points. Despite a lacklustre
performance in their opening affair, both the women still have a chance of making it through into the third round.
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