Marlon Lipke and Tomas Hermes advance to San Miguel Pro Zarautz quarter-finals
Germany’s Marlon Lipke and Brazil’s Tomas Hermes walked away with the win from their respective Round 5 (Round of 16) heats at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star San Miguel Pro Zarautz that went down at the primary event site at Zarautz
in Basque Country, Spain, on Saturday, September 1.
Lipke got the better of Brazil’s Willian Cardoso in the fifth heat to advance through into the quarter-finals, removing the latter from the contention for the event title.
The sixth heat saw Chile’s Manuel Selman succumb to what can accurately be regarded as a decent performance by Hermes, consequently sending the latter into the next stage of the event while getting eliminated himself.
The final day of the competition saw challenging one-to-two foot waves breaking at the primary event site, with no swell forecast. As a result, the surfers were left to defy odds as they took each other on in man-on-man battles for the quarter-final spot.
The fifth heat of Round 5 saw Lipke pitted against Cardoso in a battle for survival. Looking in solid form over the last few days, both the surfers were expected to make it extremely tough for the other to walk away with the win.
As the battle got underway, Lipke drew first blood with a 4.83-point ride, thus immediately putting his rival under pressure. Keeping the momentum going, the German surfer added another 5.50 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 10.33 points as
a result.
Cardoso got off to a really slow start and struggled to find his rhythm throughout the course of the battle. Scoring a 2.77 and 3.80 off his best-two waves, he eventually finished with a heat-total of 6.57 points, which resulted in his ejection from the
competition.
The sixth heat saw Hermes and Selman square-off in a man-on-man battle for survival. As the battle got underway, the Brazilian surfer made his intentions known early in the heat. Oozing with confidence and energy, Hermes went through a series of mediocre
waves before eventually finding himself a 5.17-point ride. He went on to back it up with a 6.83-point ride, thus finishing with a heat-total of 12.00 points.
Selman had a tough time adjusting to the conditions and sea was not being generous to him either. In the end, he only managed to get to a heat-total of 7.50 points, which included a 4.33 and 3.17-point ride.
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