Pauline Ado and Alana Blanchard qualify for the semi-finals at SATA Airlines Azores Pro
France’s Pauline Ado and Hawaii’s Alana Blanchard made it through into the semi-finals at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star SATA Airlines Azores Pro after claiming top honours in their respective quarter-finals that went down at the main
event site of Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Azores Islands, on Saturday, September 29.
Ado got the better of Australia’s Felicity Palmateer in the third quarter-final to successfully make it into the semi-finals, bringing the competition to a premature end for her rival in the process.
The fourth quarter-final saw Blanchard confirming her place in the next stage of the competition after prevailing over Australia’s Rebecca Woods, nudging the latter out of the contention for the event title.
The huge crowd in attendance at the primary event site expected the day to be full of enthralling performances as the immensely talented female surfers from around the globe continued to take each other on in one-on-one battles for the semi-final spot.
The third quarter-final pitted Ado against Palmateer, putting a spot in the next round on offer and thus promising an intense contest.
However, it turned out to be a pretty one-sided battle as the French surfer stole the show with a superb performance. After going through a series of average scores, she scored a 7.23 off her first business-wave and went on to add an impressive 8.00 to her
account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 15.23 points.
Palmateer struggled to find her rhythm during the course of the crucial bout. Opening her account with a 4.33-point ride, she later added an additional 3.10 points to her account, thus finishing with a heat-total of 7.43 points. As a result, she found herself
eliminated from the competition.
The fourth quarter-final featured yet another really impressive performance, this time Blanchard getting into the spotlight as she took down Woods.
The Hawaiian surfer got her hands on a 7.93-point ride and immediately followed it up with a 7.00-point wave, thus reaching a heat-total of 14.93 points.
Woods got off to an impressive start, earning a 7.17 off her first business-wave and later added an additional 5.00 points to her account, thus getting to a heat-total of 12.17 points, thus getting ejected from the contention for the event title.
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