Tyler Wright bows out to Stephanie Gilmore in the Dow AgroSciences Pro Quarter-finals
Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore took down her compatriot Tyler Wright in the second Quarter-final of the TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival featuring the Dow AgroSciences Pro, third of seven stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World
Title Series, which continued at Fitzroy Beach in Taranaki, New Zealand, on Saturday, April 14.
The crucial win over Wright served to carry Gilmore into the Semi-finals while bringing the competition to a premature end for her rival in the process.
The surfing conditions prevailing at the primary event site on Saturday turned out to be quite decent, offering the prestigious female surfers plenty of opportunity to unravel their stylish moves while pursuing victory in order to move closer to a title
shot.
The latest event on the ASP Women’s elite tour roster had started off with a number of talented surfers from around the globe. However, the field was left with only the most in-form surfers in contention once the event passed through the initial rounds to
reach the Quarter-finals.
With clean three foot waves breaking at Fitzroy Beach on Saturday, the battles for the Semi-final spot continued.
The second Quarter-final pitted Gilmore, former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion and current No.1 on the ASP Women’s World Title Series rankings, against Wright. The latter was still relatively fresh to the elite tour, competing in just her second year
after making a debut last year. However, she had already proved herself as a threat and was expected to give Gilmore a real tough time during their clash.
As the second Quarter-final kicked off, Gilmore got off to a strong start, catching her first business-wave in the opening minutes of the heat to pull off a series of splendid turns. The exquisite effort allowed her to post an 8.00 on the score-board to
take an early lead.
Continuing the momentum, she went on to add a 4.33 to her account to get to a heat-total of 12.33 points.
Wright failed to get the sort of start that she was hoping for, collecting a mere 4.93 off her first business-wave. Needing a big score off her second business-wave, the young Australian sensation gave it her all, but her efforts turned out to be in vain
as she only managed to collect a 6.67 off her second ride. This took her to a heat-total of 11.60 points, leaving her in a 0.73-point deficit. As a result, she was forced to surrender victory and thus the Semi-final place to Gilmore.
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