Laura Enever defeats Sally Fitzgibbons in Round 1 of Roxy Pro France 2011
Australia’s Laura Enever created an upset by defeating her compatriot Sally Fitzgibbons in the fourth heat of Roxy Pro’s Round 1 on Thursday morning, July 14, at Cote Des Basques beach in Biarritz, France.
By prevailing over Fitzgibbons as well as the third Australian in the three-woman battle Felicity Palmateer, the 19-year-old Enever advanced directly to the third round, while her rivals were forced into the second round to stay alive in the competition.
The 20-year-old Fitzgibbons, also known as Sal, was unarguably the favourite for the fourth heat. She had remained consistent throughout the current ASP season, walking away with top honours from the second stop, Rip Curl Women’s Pro in Australia, as well
as the third stop, Subaru Pro TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival in New Zealand. The rest of the events saw her either take second place or third, putting her right below current ASP No.1, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, on the ASP Women’s World Title Rankings.
However, it seemed that Enever had no intention of letting Fitzgibbons walk all over her during their first round battle of Roxy Pro. As the heat kicked off, she drew first blood by locking a wave and pulling off an outstanding manoeuvre to earn 8.17 points
off it and move into the lead. Fitzgibbons soon responded with a 5.67-point wave to ease some pressure, but it was just not enough.
Sal soon added another 6.17 points to her account halfway through the heat to move to a two-wave total of 11.84 points and steal the lead from her rival, but Enever rose up to the challenge, earning 4.03 points off a wave in the final moments of the battle
to finish with a heat-total of 12.20 points, and edging past Fitzgibbons to clinch the top honours.
Palmateer was also participating in the heat, but she failed to make a solid impact in the heat and was hardly noticeable with the intense ongoing battle between Enever and Fitzgibbons. Scoring 2.00 and 2.83 points off her two best waves, she finished with
a heat-total of 4.83 point, rounding out the third position.
The first round of Roxy Pro resumed today after going on hold just after three heats on Tuesday afternoon due to the deteriorating conditions. The incontestable conditions kept the contest from resuming on Wednesday, but the fourth day of the competition
turned out to be much better and the organisers finally gave the call that the fans and surfers were eagerly waiting for.
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