Tanner Hendrickson and Michael Powell qualify for Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco quarter-finals
Hawaii’s Tanner Hendrickson and America’s Michael Powell made their way into the quarter-final stages at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco after walking away with top honours from their respective Round 5
(Round of 16) heats that took place at Playa Revolcadero in Acapulco, Mexico, on Saturday, July 21.
America’s Colin Moran and Hawaii’s Gavin Gillette were able to keep themselves alive in contention for the event title as well by securing runner-up position in their respective heats, which proved sufficient to take them through into the next stage of the
event.
The swell had seen significant improvement on the latest day of the competition, with the waves on offer lying with a range of four-to-six feet. The off-shore conditions made it pretty hard for the up-and-coming surfers to post big scores on the score-board.
The first heat pitted Hendrickson against his compatriot Diego Cadena, America’s Moran and his fellow countryperson Dane Anderson in a four-man battle for a spot in the quarter-finals.
The 20-year-old Haiku-based Hendrickson put on an impressive performance during the course of the battle and eventually managed to reach a two-wave total of 11.60 points, which sealed the fate of the bout in his favour.
“I’m so stoked to make it to the man-on-man Quarters,” Hendrickson said. “With the man-on-man heats, I’m definitely going to try and be more patient and try and sit away from the other competitor and find my own peaks.”
Moran finished in second place with a heat-total of 8.24 points to move through into the next stage of the competition as well, whereas Cadena and Anderson rounded out the bottom-two position with a heat-total of 8.10 and 7.57 points respectively.
The next heat saw the 24-year-old Wrightsville Beach-based Powell clinch the win over his compatriot Jeffrey Lukasik, Hawaii’s Gillette and Mexico’s Jose Trujillo through a heat-total of 11.10 points.
“I’m very excited to make it to the Quarters,” Powell said. “The best I had ever done was to make it to the Round of 64 before this event, so I guess I’m having a lot of good luck because the conditions are extremely challenging. I’m happy to be in the next
round.”
Gillette finished in runner-up position with a two-wave total of 6.47 points, which turned out to be enough to take him through into the next round.
Trujillo finished in third place with a heat-total of 6.16 points, while Lukasik rounded out the bottom-position with a heat-total of 5.47 points. Both the surfers were forced to make a premature exit from the competition as a result.
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