Sally Fitzgibbons and Courtney Conlogue prevail in opening round of Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons and America’s Courtney Conlogue prevailed in their respective Round 1 heats of Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Fiesta that went down at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Tuesday, April 3.
Fitzgibbons got the better of Hawaii’s Coco Ho and America’s Sage Erickson in the fifth heat to advance directly into the third round while sending both her rivals in the relegation Round 2 to surf again for the Round 3 spot.
The sixth heat saw Conlogue take the win over Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich and New Zealand’s Sarah Mason to confirm her place in the third round, consequently relegating both Mulanovich and Mason into the second round.
The ASP Top 17 surfers took each other on in clean three-to-four foot waves that were breaking at the primary event site on the opening day of the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour.
Squaring off with Ho and Erickson in the fifth round, the 2011 ASP Women’s World Runner-Up Fitzgibbons continued to assert herself as one of the strongest contender for the ASP Women’s World Title by putting on an outstanding performance. The 21-year-old
Australian locked her first business-wave to post a 9.57 on the score-board and went on to back it up with a 9.27-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 18.84 points. The superb performance remained unmatched throughout the course of the heat to eventually
see her off to victory.
“Very happy with that heat as everything went my way,” Fitzgibbons said. “I was able to pick off two really good waves that linked all the way through the Bowl. Coco (Ho) was ripping and probably would have won a lot of heats today. My equipment feels good
and I’m just excited to be back in Bells.”
Ho put on a pretty impressive performance as well to clinch runner-up place, scoring an 8.17 and 7.33 off her best-two waves for a heat-total of 15.50 points.
Erickson rounded out the third position with a heat-total of 11.90 points, which included a 5.50 and 6.40-point wave.
The sixth heat featured an exquisite performance by Conlogue as she took down Mulanovich and Mason to walk away with top honours.
Locking her first business-wave halfway through the heat, the American surfer posted a 7.60 on the score-board and added an additional 8.33 to her account in the final minutes of the heat for a heat-total of 15.93 points.
Mulanovich finished in second place with a heat-total of 14.17, which included a 7.40 and 6.77-point wave, whereas Mason rounded out the bottom-position with a two-wave total of 12.57 points. As a result, both the surfers were relegated to the second round.
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