Julian Wilson shines in Round 1 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The latest stop of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Rip Curl Pro Portugal, kept delivering high-intensity action as the second heat of Round 1 featured a three-man showdown between Australia’s Julian Wilson, his compatriot Adam
Melling and Brazil’s Miguel Pupo for a direct place into Round 3 on Sunday, October 16, at Supertubos in Peniche in Portugal.
It turned out to be an intense battle between Pupo and Wilson for the top honours, but the latter eventually managed to seal the fate of the contest in his favour, securing the Round 3 spot. Pupo and Melling rounded out the second and third place, consequently
getting pushed into the relegation Round 2.
After a delayed start to the proceeding, the opening round of the latest elite tour event took off in clean one-to-three foot waves, offering surfers ample opportunity to showcase their skills and show-off the more technical tricks lying in their arsenal.
As the second heat of Round 1 kicked off, the young Brazilian force, Pupo, got off to a flying start and took control of the heat by locking a swell to unleash a flurry of exquisite tricks, earning an intimidating 9.63 for the effort and putting his two
rivals from Australian under immense pressure.
Remaining quite patient during the first half of the heat, Wilson eventually decided to take a more aggressive approach and went hard at a juicy wave near the mid-way stage of the battle to unleash a string of exciting manoeuvres to collect an 8.57 and get
back into the battle. Keeping the momentum going, the young Australian soon added an additional 8.93 points to his account, moving to a competitive heat-total of 17.50 points.
Pupo tried to regain control of the heat, but his efforts remained futile after a failure to find another good wave. He was eventually forced to settle for runner-up place with a heat-total of 15.80 points, consequently conceding victory to Wilson.
During his post-heat interview, a delighted Wilson said, “I think everything came together for me at the event last week. I was able to back myself and convince myself that I was able to take on the best guys in the world and I think that confidence has
just been carrying over to Portugal. This is my first time to Peniche and probably my first proper surf out there. It’s a really fun wave and the forecast looks like we’re in for more as well.”
Despite being the most experienced of the lot, Melling was unable to make much of an impact during the 30-minute bout. He looked out of rhythm since the very start and kept struggling till the very end. Scoring 4.00 and 6.00 off his top-two waves, the 26-year-old
Australian finished with a heat-total of 10.00 points.
While the first round may not have ended well for Pupo and Melling, both of them were still very much alive in the competition and held an opportunity to get into Round 3 by clinching a successful result in their Round 2 heat.
For more updates on Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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