Sage Erickson and Carissa Moore step into the Quarter-finals of Hunter Ports Women’s Classic
America’s Sage Erickson and Hawaii’s Carissa Moore clinched top honours in their respective Round 4 (Round of 12) heats of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star Hunter Ports Women’s Classic that continued at Merewether Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Friday, March 16.
The successful result carried both Erickson and Moore into the next stage of the competition, the Quarter-finals. Hawaii’s Malia Manuel and New Zealand’s Paige Hareb also confirmed their spot in the next round after finishing in first runner-up in the first and second heat respectively.
America’s Lakey Peterson and Australia’s Rebecca Woods, on the other hand, were forced to make a premature exit from the competition despite looking into really good form since the start of the latest World Qualifying Series (WQS) event.
As the first battle for the Quarter-final spot got underway, Erickson did not take long to begin her charge. Locking her first business-wave, the American surfer posted a 5.97 on the score-board and soon backed it up with a 7.67-point wave to move to a heat-total of 13.64 points.
Manuel stayed at Erickson heels throughout the heat, giving her a consistent challenge and snatching the lead a number of times. However, she eventually finished with a heat-total of 13.50 points, 0.14 points short of the required score. As a result, she was forced to concede victory to her American rival while settling for runner-up place.
Peterson scored a 6.17 and 5.07 off her top-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 11.24 points and thus finished in third place to get eliminated from the competition.
The second heat saw the 2011 ASP Women’s World Champion Moore put on a phenomenal performance to down Hareb and Woods and therefore confirm her place in the Quarter-finals.
The Hawaiian surfer scored a 6.33 off her first business-wave and followed it up with an 8.77-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 15.10 points.
Hareb was nothing short of impressive during the course of the heat either. Locking her first wave in the opening minutes of the battle, she posted the highest wave-score of the day, a 9.27, on the score-board. Despite a determined hunt for another decent score, she was only able to add an additional 4.50 points to her account to finish with a heat-total of 13.77 points.
Woods put on a rather lacklustre performance, scoring a 3.53 and 5.50 off her best-two waves, to finish with a heat-total of 9.03 points.
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