Jesse Mendes and Leonardo Neves advance to Round 2 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
The latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event, Billabong Azores Islands Pro, saw Brazil’s Jesse Mendes capture victory in the ninth heat of Round of 96 (Round 1), which went down at the renowned Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal,
on Thursday, September 29.
Mendes confirmed his place in the Round of 48 (Round 2) through his success in the Round 1 heat. His compatriot, Leonardo Neves, also managed to extend his life in the competition by making the Round 2 cut due to a second-place finish. South Africa’s Brendon
Gibbens and Brazil’s Charlie Brown finished in third and fourth places respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
Surfing conditions had not turned out well on the second day of the latest ASP Prime event. In contrast to the high-performance waves that had graced the event site on Wednesday, there were difficult three-to-four foot waves breaking at the beach. Surfers
needed to bring both their skills and experience into play, in order to squeeze something solid out of the wave.
As the heat got underway, the 18-year-old Mendes went through a series of waves before locking one to score 6.83 points off it. He soon added an additional 6.33 points to his account off the final wave to reach a heat-total of 13.16 points. The score secured
him the lead and consequently sealed the fate of the match in his favour.
Neves successfully avoided elimination by taking the runner-up position and earning his ticket to Round 2. Getting-off to a shaky start, he slowly built momentum and eventually managed to score 5.03 and 6.10 off a couple of waves to finish with a heat-total
of 11.13 points.
Gibbens scored 4.33 and 5.03 points off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 9.36 points, while Brown rounded out the bottom position with a heat-total of 8.90 points. The disappointing performance by the two surfers resulted in their elimination
from the competition.
Round 1 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro continued with the remaining heats at Praia de Santa Barbara as the day progressed.
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