LIHU‘E — The Open Women’s division at the 2010 U.S. Open of Surfing has narrowed the field from 60 competitors to just eight after four rounds of elimination heats, with the five Kaua‘i entrants unable to reach the quarterfinals in
LIHU‘E — The Open Women’s division at the 2010 U.S. Open of Surfing has narrowed the field from 60 competitors to just eight after four rounds of elimination heats, with the five Kaua‘i entrants unable to reach the quarterfinals in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Alana Blanchard reached the Round of 12, coming up just shy of the head-to-head quarterfinal format as she finished third in her heat. Brazil’s Jacqueline Silva and Sarah Baum oupointed Blanchard, putting up scores of 12.64 and 10.20, respectively, besting the Kaua‘i surfer’s score of 7.60.
Blanchard had reached the Round of 12 after a first place in the Round of 24, posting an 11.57.
Malia Manuel, who will be in Friday’s final for the Women’s Pro Junior event, was eliminated in the Open Women’s Round of 24. She had successfully advanced out of the Round of 48 with a heat victory on a 13.84 total.
One of Manuel’s competitors in that heat was Leila Hurst, who was eliminated with a third-place finish and a 9.93 score. Also knocked out in the Round of 48 were Bethany Hamilton and Nage Melamed.
Hurst and Melamed had made it through with worthy scores in the opening Round of 60, Hurst finishing second with an 8.14 total, Melamed winning her heat on the strength of a 12.90 score.
The Open Men’s division got underway with Round of 128 action, though Kaua‘i’s Jesse Merle-Jones was eliminated in a heat that also saw John John Florence knocked out, each just bested by Mason Ho’s second-place total of 8.77.
Andy Irons, Sebastian Zietz and Roy Powers are still awaiting their first heats in the event.
In tricky one-to-three foot surf at the South Huntington Beach Pier, ASP Pro Junior standouts Granger Larsen, 20, of Lahaina, and Nat Young, 18, rose to the top of the impressive field by posting some of the day’s top scores.
Larsen managed to navigate his way through a wave-starved heat, but still crushed the day’s highest single-wave score of an impressive 8.93 out of 10 on the way to snagging the highest heat total of Round 1, 14.97 out of 20.
“There were no waves in the beginning of the heat,” Larsen said. “I was just looking for a wave that actually broke and my goal was just to get one turn out the back and do a turn on the inside. Then that magical left came and gave me two turns out the back. I’m stoked to get that last wave at the end and get an 8.97. I obviously really wanted to make that heat. I was pretty happy with it.”
Larsen, who was a standout in his opening ASP Pro Junior heat, hopes that he can use both the US Open Pro Junior and the men’s ASP PRIME main event to build momentum as the rounds progress.
“I feel like the more heats I do out here, the more confident I feel,” Larsen said. “I feel like I’ll do better in every heat, so hopefully it keeps going for me.”
Young, who is the defending ASP North America Pro Junior Series Champion, relied on a magic small-wave board to advance through today’s soft conditions while posting some of the day’s highest scores and expressed the importance of modified equipment for success at South Huntington Beach Pier today.
“I got two decent waves and my board goes really good out there,” Young said. “That helped a lot. Having a board that goes fast over those flat sections really helped.”
In the Open Women’s event, Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons, 19, who posted the day’s highest scores in Monday’s early rounds, continued to assert her dominance on her fellow competitors Tuesday by unleashing the highest score of Women’s U.S. Open of Surfing, a near-perfect 9.00 out of 10 despite the tricky decreasing swell on offer.
“The swell has dropped this morning,” Fitzgibbons said. “It’s a bit smaller for the Round of 12, but I was able to get a few high scores. The 9 was one of the bigger waves and it was a bit bowlier and offered two big turns. I just tried to go big on it and I’m happy to move through to the Quarterfinals.”
Fitzgibbons, who is currently rated No. 2 on the ASP Women’s Dream Tour, has been a constant Finalist throughout the season, and is hoping to keep the ball rolling in an attempt to take out this year’s historic $50,000 prize purse for this year’s Women’s US Open of Surfing winner.
“It’s one step closer to the $50,000 for sure,” Fitzgibbons said. “It’d be nice to make a Final here. I haven’t made a Final here at the US Open. Huntington is one of those challenging waves that would be pretty cool to master and with that extra incentive, people are pushing the level.”
In addition to Fitzgibbons, Silva and Baum, Carissa Moore, Laura Enever, Lakey Peterson, Tyler Wright and Justine Dupont make up the final eight going after the unprecedented prize and prestige that this championship will bring.
An Association of Surfing Professionals news release contributed to this report
