As was the case during each previous day of competition, Thursday gave spectators and competitors alike a little bit of everything at the Women’s Fiji Pro. When it was all said and done, Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons had won her second
As was the case during each previous day of competition, Thursday gave spectators and competitors alike a little bit of everything at the Women’s Fiji Pro. When it was all said and done, Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons had won her second straight event of 2014 and Wailua’s Malia Manuel had picked up her best result of the season.
From scoreless heats to interference calls to injuries to killer barrels, the Fiji Women’s Pro at Tavarua Island provided a memorable backdrop for the fifth World Championship Tour event of the season. The final was an all-Aussie affair that pitted Fitzgibbons against five-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore. It was Gilmore holding a slim lead with under seven minutes remaining, but Fitzgibbons needed just a 2.73 to move ahead. After a pretty heavy Gilmore wipeout, Fitzgibbons got a quick score on a frothy overhead wave for a 3.00 to move into the lead.
With four minutes left, Gilmore needed a 3.78 to recapture first place, but she had to sit and watch the clock run out without even that manageable score a possibility. Fitzgibbons nabbed back-to-back event titles with a 9.00 to 8.73 win.
It was the first semifinal appearance of the year for Kauai’s Manuel, pushing her further up the world tour rankings, now into fifth place for the season. Manuel reached the quarterfinals in her first three events of the year before a fourth-round exit at the previous Rio Women’s Pro. But the semifinal showing gave her an Equal Third in Fiji, earning 6,500 points and $15,000. Her bump in the rankings places her behind only Oahu’s Carissa Moore, Fitzgibbons, Gilmore and Australia’s Tyler Wright.
After her opening-round heat win over Bianca Biutendag and Nikki Van Dijk, in which Manuel totaled the second-highest heat score of the week, she took second in her non-elimination third-round contest. That set up a head-to-head battle with New Zealand’s Paige Hareb. It was a very slow heat with both surfers scratching for scores and the Kauai surfer took a hard fall that injured her right hand, but she continued to attack the wave with ferocity all day. Manuel held a narrow lead with less than 10 minutes remaining, but neither competitor had yet earned a score above the three-point range. Manuel got four maneuvers in for a 4.83 to improve her lead and she went on to secure an 8.50 to 7.00 win and a spot in the quarters.
That brought on a matchup with 16th-ranked Johanne Defay. It was a similar battle with smaller scores throughout the 30 minutes. Trailing midway through the heat, Manuel slammed a bottom turn sending plenty of spray and added a maneuver in the soupy section before a Superman-like dismount. That 5.33 moved her out in front. She backed it up with a 4.17 on her next effort, which could have been a monster score as she drove down the line and into a deep barrel, just getting clipped on her exit. Had she appeared cleanly, it would have been close to a perfect score. Nonetheless, Defay needed a 5.50 to move ahead and her final effort with just two minutes left showed one big turn before the wave sputtered out. She earned a 4.93 and fell short of the semifinal as Manuel advanced with a 9.50 to 8.93 win.
In her final four showdown, Manuel squared off with Fitzgibbons. The Aussie had won six of the pair’s previous eight matchups and continued that trend with some great surfing Thursday. After not having much to work with, she found a beautiful barrel and tucked in with a clean release for a 9.07 to take control midway through the heat. Manuel tried to answer with a great barrel of her own, charging down the line for a good portion of the wave before getting taken down by the lip. She broke her board on the fall and had to grab a new one, now needing a 9.21 to move into the lead. The situation never changed from there and despite some fierce commitment and heavy falls, Manuel was out in Equal Third, 14.24 to 8.86.
Princeville’s Tatiana Weston-Webb made another great showing in her wild card entry for injured Courtney Conlogue, facing off with Moore in Wednesday’s fourth round. She showed why she’s ready to compete with the world’s elite but fell short of the monumental upset as Moore advanced to the quarters with a 17.07 to 15.13 win in a gem of a heat. Weston-Webb has a pair of Equal Ninth results in her two WCT events this year.
Moore was then upset by Australia’s Dimity Stoyle in the quarters. The world champ needed just a 3.17 in the final minute and got a two-turn wave with 20 seconds left, but received a 3.03 score to fall by a 6.83 to 6.70 final.
Next up for the women will be the Vans US Open of Surfing, which gets underway July 27.
The men’s World Championship Tour now takes center stage with the Fiji Pro, starting up on Sunday. Kilauea’s Sebastian Zietz, coming off a quarterfinal at the Rio Pro, will go up against Australian Josh Kerr and Brazilian Alejo Muniz in the opening round.
Despite no finals appearances yet this year, Kelly Slater enters as the top-ranked surfer, followed closely by Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson and Michel Bourez.
Live action can be seen on Oceanic channels 250 and 1250, as well as aspworldtour.com. Fiji is 22 hours ahead of Hawaiian time, so the start of Sunday’s coverage will take place here on Saturday morning.
