Australian Sally Fitzgibbons dominated the first stop of the ASP World Qualifying Series, the Estoril Surf Billabong Girls, on the weekend and took vicotry over Jacqueline Silva from Brasil.
Fitzgibbons was unstoppable as she steam rolled her opponents on her way to claiming back-to-back Estoril Surf Billabong Girls titles finally over coming Jacqueline Silva (BRA). Handling the testing conditions using high quality rail-to-rail carves on the complicated peak at Bafureira, Fitzgibbons never looked in doubt during the 35-minute final. The current ASP world ranked nº2 started the final strongly with two solid rides, a 6.75 and a 7.25 out of a possible 10 to then nail shortly after an excellent 8.25 forcing Silva a combination of two rides to overtake her and in the process obtained the highest two-wave total of the day 15.50 out of a possible 20.
“I’m over the moon right now with this second win here in Estoril. It’s been so much fun back here in Portugal and to be out there in the final with Jacqueline (Silva) and to be back in town where the waves are really fun. With the tide draining out this morning it was a bit lumpy so it cleaned up and I’m stoked to have a good final with waves and finish on top.” Fitzgibbons is now set to take on her future competitive commitments confident that she can continue the good form she has shown throughout the year. “I’m really happy with the way things are going for me this year with a few finals in row and a couple of second places and now a first so extremely happy and confident leading into the next event.”
Jacqueline Silva placed second securing 2520 valuable Women’s Star Series points in her attempt to requalify for the elite ASP Women’s World Tour. Having surfed brilliantly in her semi-final clash Silva was unlucky not to secure any of the high potential scoring waves that began to come through during the middle stages of the final. “In my semi-final I got some good waves and I knew the final was going to be really hard because Sally is ripping at the moment. I waited patiently for the good waves but they never came for me while for Sally she caught a few good ones and received that really high score.” “I’m happy I made the final because my goal this year is to get back on the World Tour so with this second place and next week another event in France I want to keep going and build a little more on this result.”
RESULTS SEMI-FINALS ESTORIL SURF BILLABONG GIRLS
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.00 Def. Tyler Wright (AUS) 5.25
Heat 2: Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 13.25 Def. Sage Erickson (USA) 9.25
RESULTS QUARTER-FINALS ESTORIL SURF BILLABONG GIRLS
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.50 Def. Alana Blanchard (HAW) 5.00
Heat 2: Tyler Wright (AUS) 14.00 Def. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 10.90
Heat 3: Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 10.10 Def. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 10.00
Heat 4: Sage Erickson (USA) 11.25 Def. Nikita Robb (ZAF) 7.75
