Dane Reynolds and Royden Bryson advance to 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing quarter-finals
The fourth day of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing wrapped up with the third and fourth heat of non-elimination Round of 12 (Round 4) that went down at the Huntington Beach Pier, California, on Friday afternoon, August 5.
The third heat saw America’s Dane Reynolds dominate the three-way battle to clinch a comfortable win over his compatriot Kolohe Andino and Australia’s Yadin Nicol, who finished second and third respectively. The fate of the contest sent Reynolds directly
into the quarter-finals, while relegating Andino and Nicol to the knock-out Round of 12 (Round 5).
South Africa’s Royden Bryson walked away victorious from the fourth heat, while Thiago Camarao barely missed out on top honours to finish in second place. Hawaii’s John John Florence rounded out the bottom position. While Bryson qualified directly for the
quarter-finals, Camarao and Florence were relegated to Round 5.
The 25-year-old Reynolds was consistently delivering impressive performances over the course of the event and his heat on Friday turned out to be no different as he competed against Andino and Nicol for the quarter-final spot.
From the very beginning of the heat, Reynolds asserted his dominance over his rivals and continued to maintain an upper hand till the very end of the 30-minute bout. He locked a couple of waves to unload a flurry of exquisite tricks, finishing with a heat-total
of 16.43 points. The score allowed him to prevail over his rivals with a huge margin.
Andino and Nicol failed to put up a decent fight and rounded out the second and third positions after finishing with a heat-total of 10.60 and 8.93 points respectively.
The final heat of the day saw the 28-year-old Bryson clinch victory despite not putting up his best performance. On a day when plenty of big scores were earned, the South African hardly had any reason to feel relaxed with a heat-total of 12.90 points, which
included a couple of sixes that he had earned off his top-two waves. However, the score turned out to be sufficient to earn him the win, guaranteeing his place in the quarter-finals.
Talking to a reporter after the event, Bryson said, “I had two 6s in the bank, so it was anybody’s game because but as we saw in the heat before guys can throw 8s at any moment. I was just lucky to get through that heat, I didn’t have any exceptional waves.
I only had two 6s so I’m stoked to get through and get a good result here.”
Camarao put up a determined fight, but ended up short of victory after finishing with a heat-total of 12.53 points. Florence remained quite disappointing after showing so much promise in his previous heats. He rounded out the third position with a heat-total
of 10.80 points. Both the surfers would be competing in Round 5 to extend their life in the event.
For more updates on Round 4 of 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing, stay tuned to bettor.com
Tags: