Day of upsets opens door for Nikki
WORLD champion hopeful Nikki Van Dijk has the chance to claim her first world No.1 rating and end an Australian surfing hoodoo after she and Stephanie Gilmore survived a day of spills and upsets to advance into the quarters of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.
With Mick Fanning and his male counterparts put on ice for the day, the women’s field was stripped bare of its top five ranked surfers.
In a major shock, reigning world champion Tyler Wright failed to advance past Round 3 for one of her worst results in recent times with American world No.1 Lacy Peterson, knocked out by 16-year-old whizkid Caroline Marks, also sent to the sidelines.
A day earlier former Rip Curl Pro winner Sally Fitzgibbons exited the Victorian competition in the second round while Keely Andrew, runnerup to Peterson at the Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast last month, was also beaten.
The upsets have left Phillip Island local Van Dijk and Gilmore as the only surfers now capable of ending Australia’s worst losing run on the entire women’s world tour at Bells Beach – and both in a position to take control of the world title race.
“Well, that’s that then. We’ll need to fix that for sure,’’ Van Dijk said of the five-year domination by US women at the Rip Curl Pro.
“That’s certainly fired me up, knowing about that record.
“I’ve never rung the bell but I dream, of it.’’
Van Dijk broke through for her first world tour win last season with Gilmore and Hawaiian Carissa Moore the only former winners still in the mix.