Stephanie Gilmore prevails over Coco Ho to advance to Roxy Pro France 2011 semifinals
The fourth quarter-final of the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour, Roxy Pro, went down at the event’s backup site, La Grande Plage, in Biarritz, South Africa, on Friday, July 15th.
The last quarter-final pitted the four-time and regaining ASP World Champion from Australia, Stephanie Gilmore, against Hawaii’s Coco Ho in a battle for the semi-final spot. The showdown turned out to be real intense, with both the surfers putting up exceptional
performance, but it was Gilmore who managed to walk away with top honours in the end.
There is hardly anyone who can claim that they do not feel intimidated by the likes of Gilmore during the heat. The 23-year-old Australian has ruled four seasons of the ASP Women’s World Tour and even though she has already missed out on defending her title
this season, several third place finishes in the previous stops indicates that she is still one of the surfers to really look out for in the future.
With no victory to her name in the current season so far, Gilmore has all the reason to go hard during the South Africa stop. While a few hiccups in the initial rounds did cause some problems for her, she bounced back pretty well and showed her true potential
in the fourth round to earn her place in the quarter-finals.
As the battle started, it was Ho who ended up drawing first blood, locking a wave to score 7.50 points off it and instantly taking the lead. Gilmore rose up to the challenge quite well, locking a wave to show off her stylish manoeuvres and earning 8.33 points
for the effort.
A few minutes later, Gilmore caught another wave throw another string of impressive tricks and this time got 7.97 points added to her account, climbing to a two-wave total of 16.30 points.
The 20-year-old Ho kept the hunt for another good score going, getting more desperate with every passing minute. She eventually managed to catch an outstanding wave in the final minutes of the heat, scoring 8.37 points off it. However, this second-wave score
took her to a heat-total of 15.87 points, placing her in a 0.43-point deficit. Consequently, she was forced to surrender victory to the Australian surfer.
With another excellent performance, Gilmore sent out a clear message to everyone that she meant business and had no intention of leaving South Africa without adding a victory to her name. So far, she seems to be doing pretty good. However, the final two
battles that separate her from the title are not going to be easy, with the likes of Hawaii’s Carissa Moore and Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons in the semi-final field.
For updates on the semi-finals of Roxy Pro France 2011, stay tuned to bettor.com
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