Second round of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic concludes
The second round of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic, an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour event, went down on Monday, May 2, at Dee Why Point in New South Wales, Australia.
The fourth of the seven-stop ASP World Tour events scheduled to take place in the current year, Dee Why Point attracted some of the best female surfers in the world for the coveted prize money and ranking points. With such elite surfers in attendance, an
action-packed contest was indeed promised.
With heavy four to six foot tides, the second round of the competition followed the first one. The line-up for the second round consisted of the surfers who had failed to clinch victory in the first round. They had to come through in the second round in
order to remain in the title race and progress to the third round where the winners of first round were already waiting for them.
Round two kicked-off with Hawaii’s Melanie Bartels squaring it off with the French Pauline Ado in the first heat. Both the surfers put up a determined fight, but in the end it was Bartels who managed to get her claws on the win with a two-wave score of 13.65
against Ado’s 12.75, bringing the French’s competition to a premature end.
The second heat pitted America’s Courtney Conlogue against the talented Rebecca Woods from Australia. The contest turned out to be one-sided as the Australian struggled to find a good wave in order to match the American’s stylish moves. It turned out to
be a comfortable win for Conlogue as she scored 15.10 to best Wood’s 8.25.
In the third heat, the in-form surfer from Australia, Sally Fitzgibbons, found herself facing her compatriot, Claire Bevilacqua, in a battle for survival. While the winner of the previous two events struggled to find her rhythm in the first round and eventually
ending up in round two instead of directly progressing to the third round, she managed to redeem herself in her latest heat. The way that Fitzgibbons handed the waves, one almost felt sorry for the Hawaiian for facing such an opponent. Fitzgibbons dominated
the heat, scoring 18.25, to oust Bevilacqua, who scored 13.00, out of the contest.
The fourth heat featured a battle between the Hawaiians, Coco Ho and Alana Blanchard. Ho managed to prevail over her rival, scoring 14.00 against Blanchard’s 9.60, in order to remain in the title pursuit.
In the heat that followed Australia’s Chelsea Hedges went against fellow-Australian, Jessi Miley-Dyer. After a real nail-biter, Dyer surrendered victory to her rival, scoring 11.95 in response to Hedges 12.65.
The final heat of the second round featured a pair of Australians as well. This time is was Paige Hareb and Laura Enever competing for a spot in the next round. While both the surfers showed almost equal determination, Hareb edged her way past Enever with
a score of 15.00 against her rival’s 13.75.
The six heats of the second series completed the field for the third round, which was to take place on the same day. An interesting and intense battle was expected as the ladies got ready to meet each other to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
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