Kelly Slater defeats Heitor Alves to reach Hurley Pro Finals – 2011 ASP World Tour
The seventh stop of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Hurley Pro, kept treating fans to a heavy dose of adrenaline-pumping action with the first Semi-Final that went down at the iconic point-break of Lower Trestles in California,
America, on Wednesday afternoon, September 21.
America’s Kelly Slater continued to assert his dominance with yet another epic performance to take down Brazil’s Heitor Alves and advance through to the Finals.
The ten-time ASP World Champion, Slater, was looking as good as ever during his campaign to add yet another ASP World Title to his collection. After getting-off to a perfect start in the latest season of the elite tour, the 39-year-old gradually began to
lose rhythm and revealed a few kinks in his form. A last-minute decision to skip Billabong Pro Jeffrey’s Bay hurt his ranking even more and caused him to slide out of the top-five.
However, he managed to bounce back quite strongly with a win at Billabong Pro Tahiti and followed it up with a runner-up finish at Quiksilver Pro New York. He kept the momentum going at Lower Trestles and comfortably moved through the early rounds and Quarter-Final
to reach the Semi-Finals without as much as a scratch.
His opponent, Alves, did not look in the best of form. He had been rather inconsistent over the last few days, though he did come up with results at crucial stages. While it indeed was a bit unfair to undermine him as he did manage to make it into the Semi-Finals
by going through a line-up of the world’s top surfers, it always looked rather unlikely that he would be able to stand his ground while facing the formidable force, Slater.
As the first Semi-Final got under-way, Slater made his intentions quite clear by locking a wave in the opening minutes to unload a series of exquisite tricks and posting an 8.83 on the scoreboard. Alves successfully kept the pressure from mounting by quickly
responding to his opponent’s first attack with an 8.07-point wave.
As the heat progressed, both the surfers kept searching for another good score. Alves eventually managed to add an additional 8.50 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 16.57 points. While the effort was commendable, it proved to be insufficient
as Slater went for the kill with a spectacular second business-wave, exhibiting a combination of amazing manoeuvres to earn 9.57 points.
Finishing with a heat-total of 18.40 points, the Floridian-based surfer walked away with a convincing victory, successfully making it into the Finals for a third consecutive time.
For updates on the second Semi-Final of Hurley Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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