Tyler Wright and Malia Manuel jump straight to Quarter-finals at Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach
Australia’s Tyler Wright and Hawaii’s Malia Manuel walked away with top honours from their respective Round 3 heats of Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach presented by Ford Fiesta that resumed at the renowned Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Thursday,
April 5.
Wright defeated her compatriot Laura Enever and New Zealand’s Sarah Mason in the first heat of Round 3 to advance through into the Quarter-finals while relegating both her rivals into the fourth round to surf again for survival in the event.
The second heat saw Manuel get the better of Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore and New Zealand’s Paige Hareb in the second heat to confirm her place in the Quarter-finals. Both Gilmore and Hareb consequently got relegated to the fourth round.
The waves on offer at the primary site on Thursday turned out to be in the four-to-six point range, giving the world’s best female surfers plenty of opportunities to put their exquisite skills on display on the latest day of the Association of Surfing Professionals
(ASP) Women’s World Tour.
The first heat pitted Wright, the 2011 ASP World Rookie of the Year, against Mason and Enever in a battle for the Quarter-final spot.
The young Australian surfer got down to business in the opening minutes of the heat, locking her first wave to unload a series of tricks to score a 7.67. She went through a series of average scores before unloading a string of impressive manoeuvres on her
second business-wave in the dying minutes of the heat to post a 9.07 on the score-board, consequently finishing with a heat-total of 16.74 points. The score held up until the end to carry her through into the Quarter-finals.
Mason and Enever were nothing short of impressive during the heat either, though they both got relegated to the fourth round due to their second and third place finish respectively. The Kiwi surfer scored a 6.90 and 7.60 off her best-two waves for a heat-total
of 14.50 points, while the Australian finished with a heat-total of 14.00 points, which included a 6.00 and 8.00-point wave.
The second heat pitted the 2012 ASP Women’s World Championship Tour rookie Manuel against the former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion Gilmore and Hareb.
The 18-year-old Hawaiian put on a spectacular performance, scoring an 8.67 off her first business-wave and backing it up with a near-perfect 9.63-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 18.30 points.
“I think it was mostly the waves we had that helped me through the heat,” Manuel said. “The heat before had a lot of waves so I thought ours wouldn’t have many but it just kept pumping. I had to throw everything I had into it and it feels great to come away
with the win. It’s always nice to surf against Steph [Gilmore]. She’s one of my heroes. It’s always a pleasure to surf against her here.”
The current No.1 on the 2012 ASP Women’s World Title rankings, Gilmore, put on a superb performance to challenge her rival’s score, but failed to go all the way after finishing with a heat-total of 17.50 points, which included a 8.70 and 8.80-point wave.
Hareb rounded out the third position after putting on a lacklustre performance for a heat-total of 10.34 points, which comprised of a 5.77 and 4.57-point wave, consequently accompanying Gilmore to the relegation Round 5.
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