Leonardo Neves and Heitor Alves survive Round 3 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro – ASP Prime Event
The latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event, Billabong Azores Islands Pro, continued to deliver a heavy dose of adrenaline-pumping action with the fifth and sixth heat of Round of 24 (Round 3) on Friday, September 30, at Praia de Santa
Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal.
Brazil’s Leonardo Neves came up with a commendable effort to prevail over Peru’s in-form Gabriel Villaran in the fifth heat and go through to the Round of 12 (Round 4). The outcome of the heat resulted in the latter’s elimination from the competition.
The sixth heat ended with Brazil’s Heitor Alves clinching top honours to confirm his place in the next round, putting his compatriot, Jesse Mendes, out of contention for the event title in the process.
To say that the surfing conditions prevailing at the event site were horrible would definitely not be an exaggeration. The three-foot waves on offer lacked quality and proved quite difficult to ride due to the presence of strong winds. However, the surfers
needed to make the best of what was offered to them in order to stay alive in the event.
The fifth heat pitted the 31-year-old Neves against Villaran in a battle for survival. While the latter had looked to be in excellent form during the previous two rounds, he failed to come up with the goods during his bout against Neves, who had finished
as runner-up in both Round 1 and Round 2 to earn his place in the third round.
As the head-to-head battle got underway, Neves got off to a relatively decent start and collected a 5.50-point wave in the opening minutes to take the lead and put his Peruvian rival under pressure. A few minutes later, he posted a 5.27 on the score-board
to get to a heat-total of 10.77 points. The two-wave total hardly seemed intimidating and it looked like Villaran would be able to clinch an easy win.
Contrary to expectations, Villaran failed to come up with an adequate response to Neves and finished with a heat-total of 9.60 points, which included a 3.97 and 5.63-point wave. This was surely a real disappointing effort from someone who had looked so impressive
over the last couple of days.
The sixth heat turned out to be a real intense affair, with both Alves and Mendes fighting tooth and nail for survival. With the sort of conditions that the battle was taking place in, it was quite difficult to say who stood a chance at clinching victory.
As the heat kicked off, the 29-year-old Alves attempted to take control of the run with an early charge, locking a wave to pull off a series of impressive manoeuvres to earn an 8.67. However, Mendes managed to keep his rival from enjoying a huge advantage
by responding with a 7.60-point wave, successfully narrowing down the gap.
With the battle for the Round 4 spot very much on, Mendes successfully took the lead by scoring 6.40 points off his second wave, though the joy was short-lived as Alves almost immediately caught a 5.70-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 14.37 points.
The 0.37-point deficit caused Mendes to surrender victory to his rival, sending him off to the next round.
For more updates on Round 3 of Billabong Azores Islands Pro, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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