THE opening day of the Oi Rio Pro saw the world's best surfers, including Gerroa's Sally Fitzgibbons and Culburra Beach's Owen Wright, greeted by thousands of cheering fans on the beach during the opening seeding rounds in three-to-five foot (0.9 - 1.5 metre) waves at Itana.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Oi Rio Pro is the fifth stop on the 2019 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) and Thursday's opening heats will play an important role in the athlete's seedings as they move into the elimination rounds.
Brazilians Silvana Lima and Tatiana Weston-Webb were matched-up with Fitzgibbons in heat five of the opening round.
Fitzgibbons recently defeated Lima in the quarter-finals at the Corona Bali Protected.
But on this occasions, Lima got the edge over the Australian, winning the heat with a buzzer-beating wave, to record a 13.20 two-wave score (out of a possible 20) to Weston-Webb's 13.10 and Fitzgibbons' 9.93.
The former Kiama High School student will now Australia's Nikki Van Dijk and Brazil's Taina Hinckel in the elimination round.
Contrastingly, Culburra Beach Boardiders' Owen Wright moved through to round three after finishing second in heat 10 to Hawaii's Seth Moniz.
Moniz won the heat with a 13.77, with Wright finishing second with a 11.90 - ahead of third-placed countrymen Jack Freestone (7.43).
Sign up to our newsletters
Courtney Ward
Sports Journalist for South Coast Register and Milton-Ulladulla Times, who loves all things sport and travel. All views are my own.
Sports Journalist for South Coast Register and Milton-Ulladulla Times, who loves all things sport and travel. All views are my own.
