Thiago Camarao and Kolohe Andino enter Billabong Azores Islands Pro quarter-finals – ASP Prime Event
The ninth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the year, Billabong Azores Islands Pro, continued dropping contenders in the third and fourth heat of Round 5 that went down at Praia de Santa Barbara in Sao Miguel, Portugal, on Saturday,
October 1.
The third heat saw Brazil’s Thiago Camarao clinch a convincing victory over America’s Brett Simpson to confirm his place in the quarter-final. Simpson is now out of the title run and will have to watch from the side lines
USA's Kolohe Andino came up with an outstanding performance to defeat South Africa’s Travis Logie in the fourth heat and advance to the quarter-finals, consequently eliminating his rival from the competition.
The swell may have increased by an inch on Saturday but the waves continued to challenge the surfers. To make matters worse, the strong on-shore winds were still present, keeping the surfers from going for the more-technical tricks.
As the third heat kicked off, the 23-year-old Camarao got down to work right away and caught a wave to score 6.00 points. Simpson immediately responded with a 4.00-point wave, though that seemed to have mounted the pressure on him rather than relieving him
of it.
Almost half-way into the heat, the American surfer managed to move into the lead by scoring 5.80 points off his second wave. However, Camarao soon stripped his rival of the joy by adding a 5.50 to his account and moving to a heat-total of 11.50 points. The
score served to seal the fate of the contest in his favour, sending him through to the next round while marking the end of the road for Simpson.
The fourth heat pitted the 17-year-old Andino against Logie in a battle for the last quarter-final spot. Both the surfers had done well during the previous rounds of the event but the time had come for one of them to pack his bags.
As the battle commenced, Logie drew first blood with a rather mediocre 4.50-point wave. He soon added another 6.77 points to his account, climbing to a heat-total of 11.27 points. The total seemed rather insufficient considering he was up against the energetic
California-based Andino, who was expected to give his all to ensure his survival in the competition.
Living up to the expectations, Andino came up with a spectacular performance and made the heat rather one-sided with an onslaught of tricks. Purring like a cat during the early stages of the 30-minute battle, he suddenly pounced like a rampaging tiger, locking
a couple of waves to collect a 7.50 and 8.17 off them and moving to a heat-total of 15.67 points. The mesmerising performance carried him off to a comfortable win, sending him through to the quarter-finals.
For updates on the Billabong Azores Islands Pro quarter-finals, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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