While the men’s draw has remained fairly predictable through two rounds, the women’s event featured a few shockers in the early stages of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Among the casualties were two-time women’s world champ Tyler Wright, who fell in the third round against Tatiana Weston-Webb and Silvana Lima.
Weston-Webb has already had a solid bounce-back performance after an early exit to start the season at Snapper Rocks. But Tati managed some redemption in a round two rematch with Malia Manuel. The Kauai pair faced off in the second round on the Gold Coast with Manuel picking up the win and getting all the way to the semifinals.
This time around, Weston-Webb started off quickly and held a lead for much of the heat, but the duo traded haymakers in the closing minutes. Manuel initiated a comeback attempt with a beautifully maneuvered forehand sequence to narrow the gap. Tati responded with three massive turns on her backhand that showed her vertical abilities, bettering her two-wave total.
It was needed, because Manuel came back with the final wave, slamming the initial carve into maybe the best turn of the heat. She continued as the wave strung itself out and she got a final maneuver, needing an 8.60 to turn the heat. It was close, but not quite enough occurred on the wave and her 7.60 allowed Tati to move on to round three.
In that next round, Weston-Webb and Lima outpointed Wright in their three-woman elimination battle. For Wright, a fifth at Snapper and a ninth here at Bells are not the way she would normally choose to start a season. But her approach over the past two years indicates that she has more than enough to get back to the top of the leaderboard in a hurry.
Tati will be taking on Nikki Van Dijk when quarterfinal action resumes. Carissa Moore is also still in the mix and she’ll go up against Lima. American rookie Caroline Marks continues to impress in these earliest stages of her Championship Tour career and she’ll be facing Johanne Defay for a spot in the semifinals. Stephanie Gilmore completes the quarterfinal slate against Sage Erickson.
Current points leader Lakey Peterson was a round three upset victim at the hands of Marks and Erickson. Sally Fitzgibbons suffered the biggest upset yet, falling in round two against Aussie wild card Kobie Enright.
Of the eight women remaining, none made the semifinals at Snapper Rocks, so there will be plenty of movement in the top 10 once one of these wahine earns the honor of ringing the bell.
On the men’s side, just two rounds of action are complete and most of the top seeds have survived to this point. Ezekiel Lau pulled off a minor upset against Connor O’Leary and Jesse Mendes earned his first heat win as a full-time CT member against Joan Duru.
But all eyes will be on the third-round matchup between Mick Fanning and Sebastian Zietz. Fanning is retiring following Bells Beach, so every heat from this point forward could be his last as a CT competitor. Zietz has surfed well thus far and had the first of just two eight-point rides to this point in the men’s event.
Seabass could very well be the final opponent for Fanning and while that may certainly seem like a bittersweet piece of trivia, it would also be a badge of honor. Zietz fell in round two of the season opener at Snapper, so he needs the result much more than Fanning. But he won’t be getting much support from the observers on the beach who will definitely want Mick to make a deep run in his finale.
Fanning and Zietz have prime placement as the fifth heat, just before John John Florence and then points leader Julian Wilson. But make no mistake, Mick’s heats are absolutely the main event until he bows out. Seabass has a chance to earn that final victory and while nobody wants to see Fanning go, why not take advantage of that opportunity?
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
