Taj Burrow and Kelly Slater advance to Quiksilver Pro New York semi-final – 2011 ASP World Tour
The final day of Quiksilver Pro New York kicked off with the first and second quarter-finals on Friday, September 9, at Long Beach, New York.
The first quarter-final saw Australia’s Taj Burrow defeat Brazil’s Jadson Andre after a real nail-biting contest. Burrow, as a result of this victory, secured his place in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, America’s Kelly Slater also advanced to the semi-final after triumphing over Australia’s Josh Kerr in the second quarter-final.
After three consecutive days of non-stop surfing action, the latest stop of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour saw no obstacle in running smoothly on the fourth day. The conditions turned out to be much better than Thursday, raising expectations
for thrilling contests between the world’s best surfers throughout the day.
Pitted against an in-form Andre in the first quarter-final, the 33-year-old Burrow went through a series of waves before going hard at a real juicy wave almost halfway through the heat. He utilised the wave to pull off a series of exquisite tricks, earning
an impressive 9.00 points for the effort. Adding an additional 5.77 to his account in the dying minutes of the 30-minute heat, he finished with a heat-total of 14.77 points.
Andre had no luck with the waves in the initial minutes of the heat either, but he did manage to get back in the battle with an 8.07-point wave after a patient hunt. He needed an additional 6.71 points off his second business-wave to beat his rival’s heat-total,
but only managed to add another 6.30 points to his account, finishing 0.40 points short of the required score. As a result, he was forced to surrender victory to Burrow.
The next quarter-final saw the 10-time ASP World Champion, Slater, take on Kerr in a battle for the coveted semi-final slot. The crowd, as well as the odds, were heavily in favour of the 39-year-old American who had proved to be in an exceptional form over
the last few weeks.
As the heat kicked off, Slater got off to a promising start and soon locked a wave to pull off an impressive stunt, adding 8.17 points to his account. A few minutes later, he collected a 7.33-point wave and climbed to a heat-total of 15.50 points.
Despite the scales tipping heavily in favour of his rival, Kerr put up a remarkable fight to try and defy the odds. While the effort was commendable, it turned out to be in vain. Scoring 5.93 and 9.07 points off his top-two waves, The Australian finished
with a heat-total of 15.00 points, losing the semi-final slot to Slater by merely 0.50 points.
For more updates on the quarter-final of Quiksilver Pro New York, stay tuned to bettor.com
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