Jordy Smith and Julian Wilson enter Quarter-Finals at Quiksilver Pro France – 2011 ASP World Tour
The eighth of eleven stops on the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Quiksilver Pro France, continued to cut off heads as South Africa’s Jordy Smith faced Australia’s Owen Wright in the third, while Australia’s Julian Wilson squared
off with America’s Damien Hobgood in the fourth heat of Round 5 at La Graviere in France on Tuesday, October 11.
The clash between Smith and Wright was expected to be a real intense affair, as both the surfers were in top form. After an exciting contest concluded, it was the South African who stood victorious with his place in the Quarter-Finals confirmed, while his
opponent got ejected from the contention for the event-title.
The fourth heat saw Wilson dominate Hobgood since the start of the battle and went on to seal the fate of the contest in his favour, consequently moving into the Quarter-Finals while bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival.
With clean three-to-five foot waves gracing the event site on Tuesday, the day was expected to be full of exciting surfing battles. The shifting nature of the waves were undoubtedly becoming a source of discomfort for the surfers for quite some time now,
but it seemed that the surfers had finally made peace with the conditions and were coming into the waves with strategies built specifically to counter the demanding conditions.
The third heat of Round 5 featured a clash of the newly emerged titans, Smith and Wright, both of whom were in a threatening form. The much anticipated clash left many guessing how it would end, as neither of the two surfers seemed to contain any significant
flaw in their current form.
As the head-to-head battle got under-way, the 23-year-old Smith drew first blood through an impressive 7.67-point wave to take an early advantage over his Australian rival. To exert even more pressure on his opponent, the South African unloaded a string
of impressive manoeuvres on his second wave, earning a 7.07 for the effort and moving to a heat-total of 14.74 points.
Since the start of the heat, Wright seemed completely out of rhythm. His lacklustre performance came as a real surprise after the sort of form that he had been exhibiting for the past few weeks. Collecting a 5.83 and 4.70 off his top-two waves, the 21-year-old
Australian finished off with a heat-total of 10.53 points, which forced him to surrender victory and hence the Quarter-Final spot to Smith.
The final heat of the fifth round saw the 22-year-old Wilson take on the experienced Hobgood in a battle for survival.
In the opening minutes of the 30-minute battle, the young Australian took control of the heat by scoring a 7.33 off a wave. He later caught another impressive 7.83-point wave to move to a heat-total of 15.16 points, placing his opponent under immense pressure.
Hobgood was unable to keep up with his rival’s performance and instead put up a real lacklustre fight. Collecting 4.83 points off his first wave and 5.03 points off his second, he finished with a heat-total of 9.86 points. The American was consequently forced
to concede victory to his Australian rival.
With the conclusion of the fourth heat of Round 5, the line-up for the Quarter-Finals was fully revealed.
For updates on the Quiksilver Pro France Quarter-Finals, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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