Matt Wilkinson and Kelly Slater prevail in Round 3 of Billabong Pro Tahiti – 2011 ASP World Tour
As the third round of Billabong Pro Tahiti resumed on Sunday, August 28, at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti, Australia’s Matt Wilkinson and America’s Kelly Slater came up with exceptional performances to walk away with top honours from the fifth and sixth heat respectively.
Wilkinson defeated Brazil’s Jadson Andre, while Slater defeated Brazil’s Ricardo Santos to advance to the next round, eliminating their rivals from the competition in the process.
As the third round had been cut off after the third heat on Friday due to visibility issues, the next day of competition was supposed to kick off with the fourth heat, pitting Tahiti’s Michel Bourez against America’s Dusty Payne. However, Payne had sustained an injury during free surf on Thursday which eventually forced him to pull out of the event, granting Bourez a walk-over in the fourth heat.
The first battle of the day took place between Wilkinson and Andre in clean eight-to-ten foot waves. As the battle kicked off, the Australian went through a series of waves before riding a wave to earn a perfect 10, making it the third perfect score of the event so far. He soon added another 5.77 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 15.77 points.
