Matt Wilkinson and Kelly Slater prevail in Round 3 of Billabong Pro Tahiti – 2011 ASP World Tour
As the third round of Billabong Pro Tahiti resumed on Sunday, August 28, at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti, Australia’s Matt Wilkinson and America’s Kelly Slater came up with exceptional performances to walk away with top honours from the fifth and sixth
heat respectively.
Wilkinson defeated Brazil’s Jadson Andre, while Slater defeated Brazil’s Ricardo Santos to advance to the next round, eliminating their rivals from the competition in the process.
As the third round had been cut off after the third heat on Friday due to visibility issues, the next day of competition was supposed to kick off with the fourth heat, pitting Tahiti’s Michel Bourez against America’s Dusty Payne. However, Payne had sustained
an injury during free surf on Thursday which eventually forced him to pull out of the event, granting Bourez a walk-over in the fourth heat.
The first battle of the day took place between Wilkinson and Andre in clean eight-to-ten foot waves. As the battle kicked off, the Australian went through a series of waves before riding a wave to earn a perfect 10, making it the third perfect score of the
event so far. He soon added another 5.77 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 15.77 points.
Andre put up a remarkable fight, opening his account with a 6.77-point wave and collecting 8.17 points later in the heat. However, he failed to improve on his score and eventually finished in a 0.83-point deficit, consequently forced to surrender victory
to his Australian rival.
The sixth heat pitted the 10-time Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Champion, Slater, against the 22-year-old wildcard entry, Santos. Slater took control of the heat early on and soon added an 8.60 to his account to put his rival under pressure.
A few minutes later, the iconic surfer exhibited his class by locking a wave to pull off a series of exquisite manoeuvres to earn 9.00 points and moving to a heat-total of 17.60 points.
Santos did well to show resistance, but the 39-year-old Slater proved too much for him. Scoring 6.27 points off his first wave and an outstanding 9.57 off his second, the Brazilian finished with a heat-total of 15.84 points.
Commenting on the surfing conditions during his post-heat interview, Slater said, “The waves are insane today. This is probably the best I’ve ever surfed it – it’s just so big and perfect. It can be really intimidating when you’re on the spot and a wave
comes in. Everyone is hooting and hollering and you have to go. There’s no other experience like it in surfing.”
Slater’s performance in Round 3 was nothing short of exceptional. It seemed that the Florida-based surfer had removed the minor kinks that had cost him the event title in the last few months and seems determined to bridge the distance between him and potentially
his 11th ASP World Title.
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