Uber rookie Carissa Moore (Honolulu, HI), 17, won the ASP 6-Star Women’s US Open of Surfing against Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), whom we feature in the current issue of Cooler.
Carissa, who is only in her first year on the tour, started off with two small scores to start the heat, and locked into a lefthander in the dying seconds of the heat to capitalize on her priority to clinch the 2010 Women’s US Open of Surfing title over Sally Fitzgibbons.
“I was pretty nervous because I only had two 4 point scores. Sally (Fitzgibbons) is gnarly and is a great competitor and I knew when that last set came, if I didn’t get on it Sally would have gotten the score easily. I’m just so on top of the world right now, I’m so psyched.” The tough victory also saw the young Hawaiian take out the richest prize purse in women’s surfing history and the talented natural-footer was beyond belief with her accomplishment. “It’s really amazing to win this event. I just can’t even believe it right now. It just seems really surreal. That Final went by so fast and I wish I could have done some more surfing, but I’m just really stoked.”
Sally, who smashed the highest scores of women’s competition throughout the event’s entirety, struggled to get a start in the Final and finished runner-up. Although she said herself that it was a really tough Final, she was still disappointed about yet another runner-up after the last three tour events. “I wanted to win that one, but there are more events and it’s great that Nike put up the extra money. It really added to the excitement and hopefully next time I catch a few more waves. My time is obviously around the corner.”
Sage Erickson, who was the runner-up in last year’s Women’s US Open Pro Junior, jumped out to an early lead in the stacked heat and led the field throughout its entirety to clinch her first ASP victory over last year’s winner Malia Manuel (Kauai, HI), 16, ASP Women’s World Tour campaigner Coco Ho (North Shore, HI), 19, and reigning ASP Women’s World Junior Champion Laura Enever (AUS), 18.
“I came in second last year with Malia (Manuel) getting the score in the last couple of seconds,” she said. “It was hard. I’m just glad to come out this year and win a Junior with such a prestigious Final. This is pretty much my best win because it’s the US Open. It feels great to win in front of all of these people.”
RESULTS
US Open of Surfing Women’s Final:
1 – Carissa Moore (HAW) 12.50
2 – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 3.83
US Open of Surfing Women’s Semifinals:
SF 1: Carissa Moore (USA) 13.27 def. Lakey Peterson (USA) 6.27
SF 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.33 def. Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 10.70
US Open of Surfing Pro Junior Women’s Final:
1 – Sage Erickson (USA) 10.20
2 – Malia Manuel (HAW) 6.56
3 – Coco Ho (HAW) 7.00
4 – Laura Enever (AUS) 6.67
