Tanner Gudauskas and Miguel Pupo advance to the finals of the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro
The third Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the season, the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro, continued with the semifinals taking place during Saturday afternoon, May 7, at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California.
After the two intense semifinal heats concluded, it was America’s Tanner Gudauskas and Brazil’s Miguel Pupo who made their way to face each other for the $40,000 prize cheque, along with a 14-karat gold trophy worth $30,000 and the coveted 6,500 coveted
ASP World Ranking points on offer.
The surfs on Saturday did not do any justice to the reputation of the Lower Trestles at all. While the break had played host to numerous surfing contests in the part because of being rich in appealing tides, Lowers Pro was unfortunately met with low disappointing
waves.
The semifinals kicked off in the afternoon with the first heat pitting the American up-and-rising Gudauskas against Brazil’s Jesse Mendes. The Brazilian had been relatively unknown before, but since the upset in the quarterfinals when he had eliminated America’s
rising-star, Kolohe Andino from the title race, he had sent a message to the rest of the field that he was definitely not someone to be taken lightly. Gudauskas had made his way into the semifinal after a convincing win in the quarterfinal and was not short
on confidence himself.
As the battle kicked off, both the surfers struggled to lock good waves, considering there were any decent waves on offer. However, the American still managed to throw off a few turns on two comparatively decent waves to score 12.03 and triumph over his
rival, who had ended up with a two-wave score of 11.33.
With the Brazilian surfers showing their dominance in the contest, majority of them getting past the surfers from other countries to make up the field in the later stages of the Lowers Pro, Gudauskas is the only American who had managed to hold his ground
and fought back. Now he has made his way into the final to keep a Brazilian from taking the title home.
In the second heat of the semi-finals, the in-form Brazilian, Pupo, continued to assert his dominance by coming down hard on his compatriot, Thiango Camarao. Grabbing two good waves, Pupo landed sensational manoeuvres which were deemed impressive enough
by the judges to give him a score of 16.70. Camarao only managed to get himself 12.67 after two waves and ended up surrendering the victory to his rival.
Pupo will be joining Gudauskas in the final and considering the sort of form that both the surfers are in, the showdown promises a heavy dose of excitement and adrenaline-pumping action.
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