Taj Burrow and Kelly Slater dominant in Round 4 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 2011 ASP World Tour
The exciting surfing action continued at the iconic beach-break of Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal, on Tuesday, October 18, as the latest stop of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World tour, Rip Curl Pro Portugal, started off with the Round
4 heats. The opening heat of the latest round pitted Australia’s Taj Burrow against his countryman Julian Wilson and America’s Damien Hobgood, whereas America’s Kelly Slater took on Brazil’s Heitor Alves and Australia’s Chris Davidson in the second heat.
The first heat saw Burrow clinch an outstanding come-from-behind win to secure a place in the Quarter-Finals. Wilson and Hobgood rounded out the second and third place respectively, consequently getting relegated to Round 5.
Slater reminded everyone why he is the best in the game through a near-perfect performance in the second round to claim victory over Alves and Davidson and move directly into the Quarter-Finals. Alves finished second, while Davidson rounded out the third
place, with the result moving both the surfer into Round 5.
The day had turned out to be pretty good for surfing, with clean three-to-five foot waves on offer. The third round had already separated the in-form surfers from the rest which only meant that the battles were about to become even more intense.
As the first heat kicked off, the 33-year-old Burrow got off to an ideal start with a 9.80-point wave, putting his opponents on the back-foot immediately. However, he struggled to find another competitive score for most part of the heat and lost his advantage.
Just when it seemed that the heat had completely slipped out of his fingers, he made a desperate effort on the final wave and collected a 7.33, consequently finishing with a heat-total of 17.13 points. The score served the seal the fate of the contest in his
favour and add him to the Quarter-Final line-up.
Wilson had gotten off to a slow start and despite the immense pressure of Burrow’s first-wave score, he kept hunting hard for an adequate score without losing his focus. He eventually collected a 7.93-point wave and soon added another 7.77 to his account,
moving to a heat-total of 15.70 points. The score allowed him to enjoy the lead for a while, but was eventually stripped of the joy by Burrow in the dying minutes. As a result, he was forced to settle for second place and hence move into Round 5.
Hobgood remained the least impressive of the lot during the first heat and finished third after scoring 14.10 points in total off his top-two waves. He got relegated to Round 5 as well to compete for a place in the Quarter-Finals.
The second heat saw the 10-time ASP World Champion, Slater, come up with a mesmerising performance to down Alves and Davidson. Even though the Australia-based Davidson got off to a confident start by earning 8.23 points off his opening wave, the 39-year-old
Slater managed to put his opponents under pressure by coming up with a 9.73-point wave. Keeping the momentum going, the Florida-based surfing icon went on to add another near-perfect 9.57 to his account, consequently finishing with a heat-total of 19.30 points.
The score naturally carried him off to victory and added him to the Quarter-Final line-up.
Alves came up with a pretty impressive himself, earning 8.43 points off his first business-wave and later posting an 8.77 on the score-board. However, the effort turned out to be futile in front of Slater. Therefore, the Brazilian was no left with no option
but to settle for second place.
Despite getting off to an excellent start, Davidson failed to add another competitive score to his account and eventually finished with a heat-total of 13.40 points. The third place finish moved him into the relegation Round 5 along with Alves.
For more updates on Round 4 of Rip Curl Pro Portugal, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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