Sally Fitzgibbons down Pauline Ado to advance into Billabong Women’s Rio Pro Semi-finals
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons secured her place in the Semi-finals at the Billabong Women’s Rio Pro, the fifth of seven stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour, after getting the better of France’s Pauline Ado in the
third Quarter-final that went down at the main event site of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday, May 12.
“Everyone was struggling to get waves and there were only a few opportunities to get scores,” Fitzgibbons said during her post-heat interview. “It’s really nice to have a good start to the heat. I was just hoping to find a couple of those rights and hopefully
the swell picks up for the remainder of the event.”
Surfing at the primary event site was not the easiest thing to do on day of the competition. The elite female surfers were forced to rely heavily on their experience and luck during their battles, putting in a lot of effort to get hold of a couple of decent
potential scoring opportunities.
The third Quarter-final saw Fitzgibbons against Ado in a battle for the Semi-final slot. Both the surfers had been displaying an impressive form over the last few days and were expected to put up a tough fight to stay alive in contention for the event title
during their Quarter-final face-off.
2011 ASP Women’s World Runner-Up Fitzgibbons remained as one of the biggest threat to former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore’s chances of clinching her fifth title. To remain in contention for the coveted honours, the Australian surfer
needed to collect an excellent result at the latest stop of the elite women’s tour.
As the battle for the Semi-final spot got underway, the 21-year-old Fitzgibbons got off to a modest start, drawing first blood with a 4.17-point ride. The wave-starved heat made her hunt for a decent score pretty tough, but she eventually managed to find
a relatively juicy wave to add an additional 6.33 points to her account, thus moving to a resultant heat-total of 10.50 points.
The sea did not show any generosity to Ado either during the course of the battle, keeping the French surfer on the back-foot. After a desperate hunt, she managed to lock a 3.50 and 5.67-point ride. However, a heat-total of 9.17 points left her in a 1.33-point
deficit, thus forcing her to surrender victory and consequently the Semi-final spot to Fitzgibbons.
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