Taylor Knox defeats Miguel Pupo to enter Rip Curl Pro Search Quarter-Finals – 2011 ASP World Tour
After failing to make a serious impact during the fourth round of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco, America’s Taylor Knox and Brazil’s Miguel Pupo found themselves competing with each other for the Quarter-Final spot in the opening round of Round 5 that went down at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, America, on Monday, November 7.
The battle for the coveted Quarter-Final spot turned out to be real intense as both the surfers came up with an impressive performance to reach out for the win. After a determined and lengthy effort, Knox eventually managed to take down Pupo in order to secure his place in the next round, bringing the competition to a premature end for his young rival.
The 40-year-old Knox had gotten off to a very modest start in the 2011 season of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour. However, he had begun to looked more like a shadow of his former self over the last month or so and was once again attracting the praises of the critics. After a disappointing first day at Rip Curl Pro Search, the American surfer had bounced back strongly in the second round and continued the momentum in Round 3 as well. However, he was once against relegated, this time to Round 5, after a defeat in the fourth round. The inconsistency was begging to become apparent was indeed becoming alarming for his fate in the competition.
Facing Knox in Round 5 was Pupo, the young Brazilian who had been added to the ASP World Tour line-up following the mid-year cut. Pupo had been nothing short of impressive ever since stepping onto the big stage and shown a lot of promise.
With clean three-to-five foot waves gracing the primary event site, the first heat of Round 5 kicked off. Showing no respect for his senior rival and refusing to get intimidated, Pupo made an instant charge and locked a wave to score a 5.33 off it for an early advantage. He wasted no time in following it up with a 7.50-point, which took his heat-total to 12.83 points.
Knox made use of his local knowledge of the waves and picked up a wave early in the heat to unload a string of exquisite manoeuvres on it, earning an 8.60 for the effort. However, he was made to work hard for the next decent score, which took its time to come. in the final minutes of the heat, the American surfer used a wave to add an additional 6.07 points to his account, moving to a heat-total of 14.67 points and sealing the fate of the battle in his favour.
For updates on Round 5 of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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