Matt-Lewis Hewitt and Chris Friend exhibit intimidating form in Round 1 of Hainan Classic
New Zealand’s Matt-Lewis Hewitt and Australia’s Chris Friend clinched top honours in their respective heats during Round 1 (Round of 64) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Hainan Classic that went down at Wanning in Hainan Island, China,
on Wednesday, January 11.
Hewitt found himself pitted against America’s Christian Saenz, South Africa’s Nikita Robb and Venezuela’s Rosanny Alvarez in the ninth heat on the opening day of the event. The stage was set for a thrilling showdown as high-performance three-to-five foot
waves graced the event site.
As the heat got underway, Hewitt went through a series of average waves before eventually locking a relatively juicy wave to unload a string of fast turns. Earning a 7.83 for the effort, the New Zealand-based surfer took an upper hand in the battle, pushing
his three competitors on the back foot.
As the four-man battle progressed, Hewitt caught another promising wave and utilised it to exhibit his skills and style with the intent of earning a big score. Getting an over-all score of 8.50 for the wave, he climbed to a heat-total of 16.33 points. With
none of his rivals find the necessary scores to surpass him, Hewitt eventually collected a comprehensive win.
Saenz put on an impressive surfing performance as well, but failed to come up with the vigour required to trouble Hewitt. Collecting a 7.17 off his first business-wave and following it up with a 5.77-point wave, the American surfer eventually finished with
a heat-total of 12.94 points. The score proved sufficient to put him in runner-up place and thus move him into the next round.
Robb and Alvarez failed to make much of an impact during the four-man heat and clearly seemed troubled by the conditions at hand. While the South African merely collected a 5.87 and 4.03 off his best-two waves to finish in third place with a heat-total of
9.90 points, Alvarez finished last with a disappointing two-wave total of 4.84 points. The lacklustre performance by the two surfers led to their early elimination from the competition.
The 10th heat saw Friend square off with Peru’s Gabriel Villaran, America’s Taylor Clark and Venezuela’s Robert Diaz Rangel.
Friend took control of the four-man battle in the opening minutes by scoring an impressive 8.17 off his first business-wave. Adding an additional 6.43 points to his account in the final minutes of the heat, the Australian successfully sealed the fate of
the contest in his favour to confidently make his way into the next round.
The performance put on by Villaran was quite decent, featuring a 6.83 and 5.37-point wave. While the effort was not good enough to earn him top honours, it did extend his life in the competition by putting him in runner-up place.
Clark finished in third place after scoring 5.67 points off his first business-wave and following it up with a 5.00-point wave. Rangel rounded out the bottom position after finishing with a heat-total of 8.53 points, which comprised of a 4.43 and 4.10-point
wave. Both the surfers got eliminated from the competition due to their bottom-two finish.
Hainan Classic is the second event of the Hainan Wanning Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival Presented by Quiksilver.
Tags: