Taylor Knox and Gabriel Medina head into Semi-Finals at Quiksilver Pro France – 2011 ASP World Tour
After a series of adrenaline-pumping battles, the latest stop of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Quiksilver Pro France, reached the crucial Quarter-Final stage, with the first Quarter-Final pitting America’s Taylor Knox against Tahiti’s Michel Bourez, while the second Quarter-Final saw America’s Kelly Slater squaring off with Brazil’s Gabriel Medina on Wednesday, October 12, at La Graviere in France.
The first Quarter-Final saw Knox come up with an outstanding performance to prevail comfortably over Bourez, consequently clinching the Semi-Final spot while removing his rival from the contention for the event-title.
In one of the biggest upsets of the day, Medina managed to bring Slater’s event-title pursuit to an end by securing a convincing victory over him in the second Quarter-Final to advance through into the Semi-Finals.
With high-performance three-to-four foot waves gracing the primary event site on the final day of the competition, the Quarter-Finalists entered the arena to continue their campaign for the coveted event title.
The first Quarter-Final featured the 40-year-old Knox square off with Bourez in a battle for the Semi-Final slot. Both the surfers had looked to be in fine form over the last few days, though there had been some slight hiccups in their performances that had caused them to reach the Quarter-Finals after proving themselves in the relegation rounds.
As their match-up got underway, Knox got off to a superb start, locking a wave in the early minutes of the heat to pull off a string of spectacular tricks to earn 8.67 points. Following it up with a 6.50-point wave, the American finished with a heat-total of 15.17 points.
Bourez looked out of sorts and failed to find his rhythm throughout the entirety of the 30-minute heat. He eventually finished with a heat-total of 9.50 points, which included a 5.00 and 4.50-point wave. The lacklustre performance forced him to surrender victory to his rival, Knox, sending him through into the Semi-Finals.
The second Quarter-Final featured one of the biggest upset of the competition as the 17-year-old Medina manage to oust the iconic Florida-based Slater from the event after defeating him quite convincingly.
As the battle kicked off, Slater got off to a shabby start and only scored 3.33 points off his first business-wave. Despite a lengthy and determined search, he only managed to add an additional 5.27 points to his account, consequently moving to a heat-total of 8.60 points.
Medina had no problem in defeating the modest heat-total of his American rival. Asserting his dominance in the heat with a 7.33 off his first business-wave, the Brazilian went on to perform a coup de grace on his opponent with an outstanding 9.33-point wave, sealing the fate of the contest in his favour in the process and clinching the Semi-Final spot.
For more updates on the Quiksilver Pro France Quarter-Finals, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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