Julian Wilson and Chris Davidson power into Round 3 at Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The ninth of eleven stops on the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Rip Curl Pro Portugal, kept featuring the world’s top surfers from around the world engaging in adrenaline-pumping battles during Round 3 at the beach-break of Supertubos
in Peniche, Portugal, on Monday, October 17. The third heat saw Australia’s Julian Wilson take on his compatriot, Kai Otton, whereas Australia’s Chris Davidson squared off with Brazil’s Gabriel Medina in the fourth heat.
The third heat featured one of the most spectacular contests of the event, with Wilson and Otton putting up a memorable performance during the 30-minute bout. After the thrilling battle came to an end, it was Wilson who walked away with top honours, advancing
through into the next round while removing his opponent from the contention for the event title.
The next round saw Davidson comfortably prevail over Medina to move into Round 4, consequently bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival.
The battle between the 22-year-old Wilson and 31-year-old Otton was undoubtedly the biggest highlight of the day. Both the surfers stayed at par with each other in terms of performance and kept dealing blows to each other, though to little effect.
Otton made the first offensive strike with a near-perfect wave-score of 9.97 points, but Wilson kept the pressure from mounting by responding with a 9.43-point wave. However, the young Australian was kept from breathing a sigh of relief as his experienced
compatriot immediately charged at another wave and posted an 8.43 on the score-board, taking his two-wave total to 18.40 points.
Despite the intimidating heat-total of his rival, Wilson remained optimistic and continued his hunt for an adequate response. He eventually locked a wave halfway through the heat and gave it his all to collect a 9.70 off it. The score took him to a decisive
heat-total of 19.13 points, consequently carrying him off to victory and eliminating Otton from the competition despite such an impressive performance.
Commenting on the heat afterwards, Wilson said, “That was an amazing heat. My hat goes off to Otto [Kai Otton] as he was getting some ridiculous barrels and really put the pressure on me early. I’ve been watching the conditions all day long and have been
trying not to froth out too hard, but they’re just so perfect. It’s truly Dream Tour stuff out there today.”
The next heat turned out to be pretty one-sided as the Brazilian force, Medina, turned out to be completely out of rhythm during the 30-minute battle and finished off with a heat-total of 5.10 points, which included a 2.60 and 2.50-point wave.
That, however, could not undermine the impressive performance by Davidson. The 34-year-old Australian was not too keen on taking any chances against his Brazilian opponent and charged at a couple of waves, earning a 5.17 and an outstanding 8.93 off them.
The confident victory over Medina was surely going to help him in his future battles at Rip Curl Pro Portugal.
For more updates on Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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