John John Florence eliminates Miguel Pupo to secure quarter-final spot at Quiksilver Pro France
John John Florence, the rising star from Hawaii, took a pretty comfortable win over Brazil’s Miguel Pupo in the first quarter-final at Quiksilver Pro France, the seventh of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, which continued at La Graviere in Hossegor, France, on Thursday, October 4.
The 19-year-old ASP Dream Tour rookie was expected to get a tough time from his Brazilian rival, who was also in his debut year among the elite ranks, but it turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair with the former walking away with the win without breaking a sweat.
Sitting currently on the No.4 spot on the ASP World Championship Tour rankings, Florence was aware of just how important it was for him to get a result in France.
The season was entering its business-end and the Hawaiian prodigy was in a pretty strong position to have a go at the most coveted honours in the sport, one that he probably grown up dreaming of.
“It is an important event for sure, the whole title race thing, I’m trying not to think about it too much, I just take it heat by heat and will see what happens at the end of the year,” Florence said. “It’s my first full year on Tour and I’m just having fun and enjoying it.”
Looking pretty impressive during the early stages of the heat, Florence continued to look as good as ever during his quarter-final bout against Pupo, who himself had been nothing short of exquisite over the last few days.
As the heat got underway, the Hawaiian surfer got off to a solid start, pulling off a string of powerful turns on his first business-wave to post a 6.00 on the score-board.
After going through a series of ordinary waves, Florence got hold of a peak in the dying minutes of the heat to earn a 9.33 off it, thus getting to a heat-total of 15.33 points.
Pupo, on the other hand, was evidently struggling to find his rhythm throughout the course of the heat. He locked a couple of waves in the one-point range to finish with a heat-total of 2.50 points.
The lacklustre performance posed absolutely no threat to Florence’s score, allowing him to comfortably earn his place into the semi-finals.
“It was a lot of fun, there are a lot of waves coming in,” Florence said. “There’s a lot of current shifting everyone around though so you have to keep your eye on that one peak but it was fun!”
After surviving his quarter-final heat, the Hawaiian surfer advanced into the semi-finals to take on America’s Dane Reynolds.
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