Jordy Smith downs Bede Durbidge in Round 5 to advance to Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay quarterfinals
The fifth round of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour event, Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, got underway at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa on Saturday, July 23.
The first heat of the round pitted the defending event champion, South Africa’s Jordy Smith, against Australia’s Bede Durbidge in a sudden-death battle for a spot in the quarter-final. The battle turned out to be a one-man show, with Smith comfortably downing
his rival to advance to the next round.
The conditions at the event site had turned out to be excellent, offering six-to-eight foot waves and allowing the surfers to unleash some of the more technical and stylish tricks in their arsenal. The day was turning out to be a blessing after a week of
disappointing low swell that had kept the event from running smoothly.
Despite such ideal conditions, the 23-year-old local favourite Smith had failed to do justice to his reputation by becoming the most unimpressive surfer in his Round 4 heat and getting relegated to Round 5 to face Australia’s Durbidge.
As the heat kicked off, Smith went through a series of waves before eventually landing one to pull off a string of sensational manoeuvres and adding an 8.83 to his account. Durbidge wasted no time in picking up his game to prevent his rival from gaining
a huge advantage and managed to score 7.00 from his first business-wave, reducing the gap and easing some pressure.
The Australian soon collected another 7.93 off his second business-wave and moved to a two-wave total of 14.93 points. Though the lead was not a very convincing one, it still gave Durbidge some hope of making it into the quarter-finals. However, Smith soon
extinguished this hope by pulling off a huge full-rotation air reverse off his final wave of the heat and collecting a near-perfect score of 9.47 points to move to the highest heat-total of the day, 18.30.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, Smith said, “I took a pintail out in my Round 4 heat and felt like I was going backwards on it. I switched it up for the last heat and I’m stoked I found a board I really like. The waves out here this afternoon are really
fun. Even with that little wind on it, there are still some really good ones out there and they’re really good for airs.”
The South African could not have come up with a better performance to redeem himself after a disappointing Round 4. With his current victory, he advanced to the quarter-final to face his next challenge, America’s Damien Hobgood.
For more updates on Round 5 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay tuned to bettor.com
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