Mick Fanning overpowers John John Florence to move into Volcom Fiji Pro semi-finals
Australia’s Mick Fanning put on a spectacular performance to get the better of Hawaii’s John John Florence in the first Quarter-final of Volcom Fiji Pro that continued at the primary event site of Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji, on Sunday, June 10.
With his victory in the quarter-final stage, Fanning advanced through into the semi-finals while bringing the fourth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour to a premature end for Florence.
“It’s been a good day out here for me,” Fanning said. “You know, Damien (Hobgood) and John John (Florence) have to be two of the heaviest favourites out here and to get past both of them is a huge confidence boost going into the final rounds.”
The latest day of the competition saw the contest return back to Cloudbreak from the alternate venue of Restaurants where the third and fourth round had taken place. The day promised a heavy dose of thrilling action as the world’s best surfers continued
to square-off to ensure their survival in the contention for the event title as the competition field continued to narrow down. The four-to-six waves accompanied by winds presented the surfing elite with significant challenge, keeping them on the back-foot
during their pursuit of big scores.
After getting off to a shaky start, both Fanning and Florence bounced back strongly and strongly built momentum to eventually reach the quarter-finals, where they got pitted against each other in a battle for the semi-finals’ spot. The Hawaiian surfer in
particular had been attracting a lot of attention due to his phenomenal performance, which included a 10-point ride from the day before.
As the first quarter-final got underway, Fanning got down to business right away, earning a 7.93 off his first wave to grab an early lead. He continued to build momentum and eventually added an additional 8.67 points to his account, moving to a resultant
heat-total of 16.60 points.
Florence seemed completely out of sorts during the course of the event, only managing to collect a couple of scores in the four-point range to finish with a heat-total of 9.10 points. Despite being one of the strongest contenders for the event title, he
made his exit in a disappointing manner.
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