Raoni Monteiro and Fredrick Patacchia survive Round 3 of Billabong Pro Tahiti – 2011 ASP World Tour
The fifth stop on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), Billabong Pro Tahiti, continued with the 11th and 12th heat of Round 3 on Sunday, August 28, at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti.
The 11th heat saw Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro clinched a comfortable win over CJ Hobgood to secure his place in Round 4 while eliminating his opponent from the competition all together.
Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia created a huge upset by prevailing over Australia’s Mick Fanning in the 12th heat to go through to the next round, consequently removing the latter from the contention for the event title.
The 29-year-old Monteiro had been showing a consistent performance at the latest elite tour stop but it remained to be seen how he would perform in the mammoth-sized eight-to-ten foot waves.
As the heat kicked off, the Brazilian instantly took control of the battle by throwing off a string of exciting manoeuvres to open his account with 9.03 points. It became exceedingly hard to ride waves as the heat progressed, but he eventually managed to
add another 3.17 points on the scoreboard to finish with a heat-total of 12.20 points.
Hobgood struggled to adjust to the conditions since the very start and was unable to capitalise on a single wave. In the end, he had to settle for a 2.67 and 3.77-point wave, finishing with a two-wave total of 6.44 points. This resulted in Monteiro walking
away with a comfortable win.
The final heat of Round 3 pitted Patacchia against the two-time ASP World Champion, Fanning, in a sudden-death battle. While the Australian was a heavy favourite, Patacchia managed to defy odds through sheer determination and survived the heat to advance
to the next round.
As the battle kicked off, the 29-year-old Hawaiian collected a mediocre 3.83-point wave to get things in motion. However, he locked another wave almost halfway through the heat to pull off a flurry of turns and flips and earn 8.77 points for the effort,
moving to a heat-total of 12.60 points.
Fanning got off to a slow start, but eventually showed his will to fight with a 7.93-point wait in the final minutes of the heat. However, his failure to follow it up with another good score resulted in his finishing with a heat-total of 10.60 points, 2.00
points short of his rival’s heat-total. This in turn eliminated him from the competition while sending Patacchia to Round 4.
With the Round 3 battles wrapping up, the survivors got ready to compete in Round 4 for a direct quarter-final place without going through Round 5.
For updates on Round 4 of Billabong Pro Tahiti, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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