Australian Huxtable knocks out world No.1 in Bells surf
Roger Vaughan |
Xavier Huxtable is the latest giant killer at Bells Beach, beating world No.1 Italo Ferreira in the Rip Curl Pro.
The Australian, who won entry into the event as a wildcard by winning the Victorian trials, opened Friday’s heats by taking down the Brazilian star as the round of 32 continued.
Huxtable beat Ferreira 13.66 to 9.67 at the Bells Bowl in four-to-six-foot waves. It was the ninth of the 16 heats, with the men’s round of 16 to follow and close competition on Anzac Day.
The men and women will then have reached their quarter-finals, well ahead of the competition window ending on Monday.
Organisers waited two hours on Friday morning before resuming competition in clean conditions.
Ferreira had beaten Huxtable to win their opening-round heat. The third surfer in the heat, Moroccan Ramzi Boukhiam, dramatically suffered a freak knee injury and was forced out of the event.
American world No.1 Caitlin Simmers, also the defending champion at Bells Beach, and Australian world No.3 Molly Picklum were shock losers on Thursday in the women’s round of 16.
American Jake Marshall unleashed the heat of the whole event so far, men or women, with 9.33 and 9.00 wave scores to beat Brazilian Joao Chianca 18.33 to 15.74.
Chianca also stepped up with an 8.07 wave and his total score would have won all but one of the other round-of-32 heats.
Australian George Pittar fell to Brazilian two-time world champion Filipe Toledo, while compatriot Jack Robinson ended the round of 32 with an impressive heat score of 16.13 over American Jackson Bunch (14.77).
Ethan Ewing, who won Bells two years ago and is the only Australian men’s Rip Curl Pro champion in the field, opened the round of 16 with a heat against Connor O’Leary.
Born and raised in Australia, O’Leary now surfs for Japan and competed for that country at the Paris Olympics.
AAP
