Carissa Moore and Sally Fitzgibbons survive Round 2 of Roxy Pro France 2011
The world-class surfing action continued with the third and fourth heat of Roxy Pro’s Round 2 at the backup event site La Grande Plage in Biarritz, South Africa, on Thursday, July 14.
The third heat saw Hawaii’s Carissa Moore walk away with top honours to earn a place in the third round, while bringing Australian Felicity Palmateer's competition to a premature end.
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons defeated her compatriot Claire Bevilacqua in the fourth heat and advanced to the next heat, while her rival was eliminated from the competition.
The fourth day of the competition was blessed with a sunny weather and two-to-three foot waves, allowing the surfing action to get underway after remaining on hold on for the entire third day due to incontestable conditions. The organisers were forced to
move to the backup event site to make up for the lost time by dedicating the original site to long-board contest and using the alternative site for the short-board one, i.e. ASP Women’s World Tour event’s heats.
Currently sitting on top in the ASP Women’s Title Rankings and one of the two remaining title contenders, the Hawaiian force Moore found herself pitted against Australia’s Palmateer in a sudden-death Round 2. Moore was the favourite to win the heat and she
lived up to the expectations quite comfortably.
As the heat kicked off, Palmateer drew first blood, catching a wave to score 5.63 points off it and immediately putting her rival under pressure. Moore kept hunting for a good wave and eventually caught one to score 6.67 points off it and move ahead of her
rival on the scoreboard. She soon added another 6.37 to her account, moving to a heat-total of 13.04 points.
The Australian required 7.41 points to stay alive in the competition, but the task proved too much for her and she only managed to score 5.33 points off her second wave to finish with a heat-total of 10.96 points, consequently surrendering victory to her
opponent.
Australia’s Fitzgibbons, currently second in ASP World Tour Rankings and the only remaining world title contender aside from Moore, took on her country-woman Bevilacqua in the fourth heat.
Despite the pressure situation where even a minor hiccup could lead to elimination and an end to ASP World Title pursuit, Fitzgibbons looked quite cool and calm during the heat. She got down to business as soon as the heat kicked off, collecting 6.00 and
5.43 off the first two waves that she caught, and moved to a heat-total of 11.43 points.
Bevilacqua was unable to rise up to the challenge and only managed to score 4.60 and 4.20 from her two best waves, finishing in a 2.63-point deficit and surrendering victory to her rival.
While it was a quite surprising to find Moore and Fitzgibbons miss out on victory in Round 1, things seem to be getting back to normal now with both the title contenders advancing to the third round.
For updates on Round 2 of Rosy Pro France 2011, stay tuned to bettor.com
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