It was another day of intense competition for the Azores Islands Pro, fifteen heats being completed in four foot (1.2 meter) tricky conditions where patience and heat tactics made a clear difference. While the event moved into its last twenty-four-man round today after completing Round 3, some exciting clashes took place at Ribeira Grande as the number of potential title contenders dropped again from fourty-eight to twenty-two. As two days only remain before the first ever Azores Islands Pro champion is crowned, the weekend showdown is already guaranteed to deliver world-class levels of surfing.
While current ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) leaders were advancing easily through to Round 4 of competition, elite ASP Top 45 members Heitor Alves (BRA), Aritz Aranburu (EUK), Nic Muscroft (AUS) and Drew Courtney (AUS) were all eliminated. Leaving no chance to their opponents today were much expected surfers Jadson Andre (BRA) and Dion Atkinson (AUS), the two men ruling proceedings with the best heat results of the day to advance through their respective battles.
Jadson Andre (BRA), 19, a surfing prodigy that appeared on the international stage last year, struck again today to secure his Round 4 berth with a solid 15.76 point total ahead of Yadin Nicol (Western Australia, AUS). Andre, renowned for his spectacular progressive surfing, popped up a couple of flying maneuvers to set pace during his thirty-minute game posting an 8.17 point ride to seal the deal and find himself amongst the last twenty contenders for the crown.
