World No 1 Carissa Moore of Hawaii had a nightmare start to her quarterfinal, but still managed to advance to the semifinals of the Corona Open J-Bay in picturesque conditions in Jeffreys Bay on Thursday.
The event is stop No 9 on the World Surf League (WSL) 2022 Championship Tour (CT) and the second day of competition was greeted by four-to-eight-foot waves with clean conditions for the men’s elimination round two and round of 16 and the women’s quarterfinals.
The right-hand canvas gave surfers the opportunity to shine, but the day was not without its drama and upsets, particularly in Moore’s quarterfinal heat and Yago Dora dispatching World No 1 Filipe Toledo.
That was alongside J-Bay masterclasses from Stephanie Gilmore and SA’s Jordy Smith.
Moore’s start saw a big cleanup set break right on top of her after mistiming her paddle-out from the keyhole.
Her board was snapped in half and she had to swim back in and run around the point to get a backup board before paddling out for her heat against Caroline Marks (US).
The five-time world champion finally shook off the nerves with her opening ride for a 6.67 (out of a possible 10).
Marks only banked two low-range scores, but was in the lead by a small margin.
Moore waited patiently for a set wave in the dying seconds and scored the best wave of the heat to advance into the semis.
Seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) continued to demonstrate her superiority in right-hand point breaks and defeated rookie Gabriela Bryan (Hawaii) in the quarters.
The Australian selected the best waves in a firing J-Bay lineup and surfed them to perfection, dropping two big scores for the winning spot into the semifinals.
After missing two CT events, Tyler Wright (Australia) was hungry for a good result and dispatched World No 2 Johanne Defay (FRA) in pumping Supertubes to secure her spot in the semifinals.
Joining the semifinalists is Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil), who defeated Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica) in the last heat of the day and with the biggest performance of the women’s draw so far.
The Brazilian went all out with critical turns right under the lip of the double overhead waves to score a near-perfect 9.27 (out of a possible 10) and backed up with a 7.93.
Yago Dora (Brazil) upset the two-time Corona Open J-Bay winner Filipe Toledo (Brazil) by eliminating him in their round of 16 matchup.
Dora, the 2022 injury replacement, was behind and chasing for most of the heat, but he found an incredible wave to lay down three big backhand turns before getting slotted super deep on the inside.
The judging panel gave it a near-perfect 9.50 and Dora moved on to the quarterfinals, sending the 2018 J-Bay winner home in ninth place.
World No 2 Jack Robinson (Australia) had to pull all the stops to defeat 11-time world champion Kelly Slater (US).
Crowd favourite Jordy Smith (SA) put on a clinic against Kolohe Andino (US) in the elimination round in the morning with scores above eight.
He kept his momentum going into the afternoon with a 9.07 and 7.70 for a 16.77 (out of a possible 20) total to take a second straight win against Griffin Colapinto (US) and move into the quarters.
It was a heart-wrenching loss for the locals when hometown hero Matthew McGillivray (SA) and local wild cards Joshe Faulkner and Luke Thompson were eliminated. — WSL
Drama, spectacular surf at Corona Open J-Bay
World No 1 Moore advances despite nightmare heat start
Image: ALAN VAN GYSEN/WORLD SURF LEAGUE
World No 1 Carissa Moore of Hawaii had a nightmare start to her quarterfinal, but still managed to advance to the semifinals of the Corona Open J-Bay in picturesque conditions in Jeffreys Bay on Thursday.
The event is stop No 9 on the World Surf League (WSL) 2022 Championship Tour (CT) and the second day of competition was greeted by four-to-eight-foot waves with clean conditions for the men’s elimination round two and round of 16 and the women’s quarterfinals.
The right-hand canvas gave surfers the opportunity to shine, but the day was not without its drama and upsets, particularly in Moore’s quarterfinal heat and Yago Dora dispatching World No 1 Filipe Toledo.
That was alongside J-Bay masterclasses from Stephanie Gilmore and SA’s Jordy Smith.
Moore’s start saw a big cleanup set break right on top of her after mistiming her paddle-out from the keyhole.
Her board was snapped in half and she had to swim back in and run around the point to get a backup board before paddling out for her heat against Caroline Marks (US).
The five-time world champion finally shook off the nerves with her opening ride for a 6.67 (out of a possible 10).
Marks only banked two low-range scores, but was in the lead by a small margin.
Moore waited patiently for a set wave in the dying seconds and scored the best wave of the heat to advance into the semis.
Seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) continued to demonstrate her superiority in right-hand point breaks and defeated rookie Gabriela Bryan (Hawaii) in the quarters.
The Australian selected the best waves in a firing J-Bay lineup and surfed them to perfection, dropping two big scores for the winning spot into the semifinals.
After missing two CT events, Tyler Wright (Australia) was hungry for a good result and dispatched World No 2 Johanne Defay (FRA) in pumping Supertubes to secure her spot in the semifinals.
Joining the semifinalists is Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil), who defeated Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica) in the last heat of the day and with the biggest performance of the women’s draw so far.
The Brazilian went all out with critical turns right under the lip of the double overhead waves to score a near-perfect 9.27 (out of a possible 10) and backed up with a 7.93.
Yago Dora (Brazil) upset the two-time Corona Open J-Bay winner Filipe Toledo (Brazil) by eliminating him in their round of 16 matchup.
Dora, the 2022 injury replacement, was behind and chasing for most of the heat, but he found an incredible wave to lay down three big backhand turns before getting slotted super deep on the inside.
The judging panel gave it a near-perfect 9.50 and Dora moved on to the quarterfinals, sending the 2018 J-Bay winner home in ninth place.
World No 2 Jack Robinson (Australia) had to pull all the stops to defeat 11-time world champion Kelly Slater (US).
Crowd favourite Jordy Smith (SA) put on a clinic against Kolohe Andino (US) in the elimination round in the morning with scores above eight.
He kept his momentum going into the afternoon with a 9.07 and 7.70 for a 16.77 (out of a possible 20) total to take a second straight win against Griffin Colapinto (US) and move into the quarters.
It was a heart-wrenching loss for the locals when hometown hero Matthew McGillivray (SA) and local wild cards Joshe Faulkner and Luke Thompson were eliminated. — WSL
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