Heitor Alves and Kelly Slater enter Round 4 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The third round of Rip Curl Pro Portugal continued with Brazil’s Heitor Alves taking on Australia’s Josh Kerr in the fifth, while America’s Kelly Slater squared off with Australia’s Daniel Ross in the sixth heat at the renowned beach-break of Supertubos
in Peniche, Portugal, on Monday, October 17.
The fifth heat featured an intense battle between Alves and Kerr, keeping the crowd interested until the very end. As the battle concluded, it was the Brazilian who walked away with top honours, advancing through into the next round while removing his opponent
from the contention for the event title.
Despite an excellent performance in the sixth heat, Ross was unable to take down the 10-time Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Champion, Slater, and ended up getting eliminated from the competition while sending the latter into Round 4.
As the thrilling action continued at the primary event site on Monday, the29-year-old Alves found himself pitted against a formidable Kerr in the fifth heat. The pressure of elimination was bound to bring out the best performances from the surfers, giving
no room for error during the 30-minute heat.
Alves wasted no time in making a charge and posted a 6.67 off his first wave to take the lead. He soon followed it up with a 6.10-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 12.77 points. With high-performance six-to-eight foot waves on offer, the total hardly
seemed like a competitive one and left the window of opportunity open for Kerr.
However, the Australian failed to capitalise on the opportunity and only managed to collect a 6.53 and 5.67-point wave off his top-two waves, consequently finishing with a heat-total of 12.20 points. He was unable to close the 0.57-point gap and hence was
left with no choice but to surrender victory to Alves.
The next featured the legendary Slater taking on Ross in a battle for the Round 4 spot. The very presence of the 39-year-old in the arena is enough to intimidate his opponents and put them under pressure. However, the Australian had refused to let the pressure
get to him and decided to give Slater a run for his money rather than letting the latter call the shots during the heat.
As the 30-minute bout commenced, Ross made his intentions quite clear and got off to an aggressive start, locking a wave to post an 8.00 on the score-board. However, Slater managed to edge past him with an 8.93-point wave.
As the heat progressed, the American surfer added another 8.93 points to his account and moved to a heat-total of 17.86 points. However, he was unable to relax after reaching such an intimidating two-wave total due to the determination of Ross. The Australian
looked extremely dangerous as he continued his hunt for a big score to edge past his opponent and nearly accomplished that after an outstanding final wave. However, he ended up getting an 8.37 for the outstanding effort which moved him to a heat-total of 16.37
points. As a result, he was forced to concede victory to the crowd favourite, Slater, while getting eliminated from the competition himself.
For more updates on Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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