Paige Hareb and Sage Erickson bounce back in Round 2 at Nike US Open of Surfing
New Zealand’s Paige Hareb and America’s Sage Erickson were able to bounce back from a Round 1 stumble by claiming top honours in their respective Round 2 heats at the Nike US Open of Surfing, final stop on the 2012 Women’s Association of Surfing Professionals
(ASP) World Championship Tour, which went down at the Huntington Beach in California, America, on Wednesday, August 1.
Hareb got the better of her fellow countryperson Sarah Mason in the opening heat of Round 2 to secure her place in the third round, bringing the competition to a premature end for her rival in the process.
The second heat saw Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich succumb to Erickson in the second heat, getting eliminated from the competition while sending the latter into the next round to continue the contention for the event title.
The second day of women’s competition saw the elite ASP surfers continue their efforts for survival. The one-to-three foot waves on offer presented a perfect opportunity for them to put their stylish skills on display as they took each other.
Pitted against Mason in the opening heat of Round 2, Hareb clearly had a tough challenge on hand. Both the Kiwi surfers had failed to make much of an impact during their Round 1 heats and thus faced a do-or-die situation, which was expected to bring out
the best in them.
As the contest got underway, Hareb got down to business right away, locking her first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post a 7.33 on the score-board. She went on to back it up with a 5.67-point ride, thus reaching a heat-total of 13.00
points.
Mason struggled to offer a strong response and eventually had to settle for a two-wave total of 8.10 points, which included a 3.33 and 4.77-point ride. This forced her to concede victory and thus the Round 3 spot to her rival.
The second heat saw Erickson and Mulanovich face-off in a battle for a Round 3 place. Putting her local knowledge of the waves to an effective use, The American surfer opened her account with a 6.83-point ride and went on to add an additional 7.57 points
to her account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 14.40 points.
Mulanovich responded with 4.93 points off her first business-wave and backed it up with a 5.50-point wave in the final minutes of the heat to eventually finish with a heat-total of 10.43 points, which just was not enough to challenge the score that her rival
sat at. As a result, she surrendered the heat to Erickson, sending her through to the next round.
Tags: