Fredrick Patacchia and Brett Simpson reach Round 4 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal, continues to play host to the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event on Friday, September 30, as the fate of the seventh and eighth heat of Round of 24 (Round 3) was decided.
Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia clinched a comfortable win over Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth in the seventh heat to secure his place in the Round of 12 (Round 4), while eliminating his opponents from the competition.
The eighth heat featured yet another winning performance by USA’s Brett Simpson, sending him through to the next round while marking the end of the road for Germany’s Marlon Lipke.
The three-foot waves, accompanied by strong winds, continued to put the skills and experience of surfers to test, compelling them to formulate various strategies to tackle the situation. The conditions may have been extremely demanding but that could hardly
be used as an excuse for delivering anything short of the best possible performance on the available waves.
As the seventh heat kicked off, the 29-year-old Patacchia got down to business right away. In the opening minutes of the heat-to-head battle, he locked a relatively decent wave to post a 5.33 on the score-board, consequently taking the lead. Despite an early
advantage, the Hawaiian sought to place his rival, Toth, under even greater pressure and successfully did that by adding an additional 6.50 points to his score card. The resultant heat-total of 11.83 points proved to be a decisive one under the given circumstances.
Toth seemed to have succumbed to the conditions completely and showed absolutely no will to take a stand in front of nature to find a couple of good scores. He eventually finished with a heat-total of 5.50 points, which included a 2.53 and 2.97-point wave,
which forced him to concede victory to his rival.
The eighth heat pitted an in-form Simpson against Lipke in a battle for the Round 3 spot. Carrying his momentum from the previous two rounds into Round 3, the 26-year-old Simpson managed to collect yet another victory by posting a 5.50 and 6.50 on the score-board
for a heat-total of 12.00 points.
Lipke did not look too shabby during the 30-minute battle either and made quite an effort to avoid falling off the edge. However, he was only able to collect a 6.33 and 4.77-point wave, finishing in 0.90-point deficit with a heat-total of 11.10 points.
For more updates on Round 3 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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