Gerroa's Sally Fitzgibbons solidified third spot on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) rankings by reaching the Corona Open Mexico semi-final.
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Unfortunately for Fitzgibbons, that's where her assault on the seventh stage of the 2021 tour ended against Hawaii's Malia Manuel on Friday.
Despite registering waves of 7.87 and 7.00, the Kiama High School alumna's total of 14.87 was pipped by Manuel's 15.20.
The latter would end up losing the final to Fitzgibbons' Olympic Games teammate Stephanie Gilmore 15.83 to 15.27.
These results see Fitzgibbons move onto 33,000 points, behind only four-time world champion Carissa Moore (37,770) - who was also knocked out the semi-finals at Barra de la Cruz - and Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb (34,715).
This trio, along with Gilmore and France's Johanne Defay, will now contest the inaugural WSL final five at Lower Trestles from September 9-17 - after the Outerknown Tahiti Pro was recently cancelled because of French Polynesian border restrictions.
Culburra Beach's Tyler Wright, who finished ninth in Mexico, finished the season in equal sixth with United States' Caroline Marks.
The men's event in Mexico was won by Western Australia's Jack Robinson, who secured his first-ever CT title by downing Brazil's Deivid Silva 15.16 to 15.14 in the final.
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