Wright’s title defence takes hit in Portugal
WORLD champion surfer Tyler Wright is out of the Cascais Pro, heaping the pressure on her series title defence.
Wright was downed by form Hawaiian Tatiana Weston-Webb in Round 1 at Portugal, tipping her into a suddendeath clash against Portuguese wildcard Teresa Bonvalot. Last night Bonvalot stunned Wright to advance to Round 3.
Tweed Coaster Stephanie Gilmore was also dumped from the event in a suddendeath surf off with Bianca Buitendag from South Africa.
Wright and Gilmore headed into the event ranked third and fourth in the world and will now lose ground on current world No.1 Sally Fitzgibbons and No.2 Courtney Conlogue, who both advanced straight to Round 3.
Fitzgibbons took the tour lead at the last stop at Trestles and is hoping she can maintain her outstanding form as she hunts a maiden world title.
The NSW South Coast surfer went scoreless for the opening eight minutes of her Round 1 heat against Bonvalot and Hawaii’s Coco Ho but opened her account with a solid 6.5.
“It’s great to have the leader jersey and be in this spot at this point in the season,” she said.
“There’s plenty more surfing to be done but it’s so good to feel comfortable. You have to grab on to the lead at some point if you want it for the rest of the year.
“I’m going to try to hang on tight until the end of the year.”
Fitzgibbons has been incredibly consistent this season, making quarter-finals or better in each of the seven stops on the tour.