Filipe Toledo and Miguel Pupo enter Nike US Open of Surfing quarter-finals
Brazil’s Filipe Toledo and his fellow countryperson Miguel Pupo secured their place in the quarter-finals at the Nike US Open of Surfing after claiming top honours in their respective Round 8 (Round of 16) heats that went down at Huntington Beach in California,
America, on Saturday, August 4.
Toledo got the better of America’s Tim Reyes in the opening heat of Round 8 to make his way through into the next stage of the competition, bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival.
The second heat saw Australia’s Kai Otton succumb to Pupo, getting eliminated from the competition while sending the latter into the quarter-finals.
The two-to-four foot waves on offer at the primary event site served as an ideal canvas for the top surfing talent from around the globe to put their stylish skills on display and compete for a place in the next stage of the latest Association of Surfing
Professionals (ASP) Prime event.
Pitted against Reyes in the first heat of Round 1, Toledo has his work cut out for him. Both the surfers had been displaying a solid form since the last few days and thus were not expected to settle for anything less than a victory.
As the battle got underway, Reyes got off to a decent start, earning a 5.83 off his first business-wave. However, he lost his momentum as the heat progressed and only managed to add an additional 2.83 points to his account, thus moving to a heat-total of
8.66 points.
Toledo got off to a slow start, but continued to build momentum during the course of the event before eventually getting hold of a couple of juicy waves. He scored an 8.00 off his first business-wave and backed it up with a 7.90-point ride to move to a heat-total
of 15.90 points, thus walking away with the win.
The second heat saw Pupo and Otton take each other on in a one-on-one battle for the quarter-final spot.
As the heat got underway, Pupo got down to work right away and locked his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 6.00 on the score-board. After a long and determined search, he added an additional 7.07 points to his account, thus
finishing with a heat-total of 13.07 points.
Otton responded with a 4.77 and 3.93 off his best-two waves, thus ending the heat with a heat-total of 8.70 points. As a result, he was forced to concede victory and thus the quarter-final spot to his rival.
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