3 October 2007

South Africa's surfers continue to ride and make waves in the sport's biggest events, as witnessed by a superb result by Greg Emslie at the weekend. He finished runner-up in the R2.1 million Quiksilver Pro at Hossegor in France, the best result by a South African surfer in an ASP World Tour event since a two-tier world championship format was introduced in 1992.

The 30-year-old East Londoner was defeated by current world No. 1 Mick Fanning (AUS) in the final held in clean offshore one-metre waves at Les Bourdaines on the Bay of Biscay coast of France.

Fanning was on fire from the start of the 35-minute final, posting an excellent 8.50 point ride in the second minute, and then adding a near perfect 9.93 at the 14-minute mark, to leave Emslie needing to better both his scoring rides to get back into contention.

Gave it his all
The South African gave it his all, scoring a 7.0 on the next wave and catching a total of 12 waves, but he was unable to match Fanning's outstanding scores.

"It was pretty tough out there," Emslie said. "I could see that Mick was in a good rhythm and I just didn't know how I could break it. There weren't too many set waves and the tide was coming in.

"When you've got an in-form surfer like Mick getting the set waves, it's hard to come back. Either way it was a fun final. Mick is ripping and I reckon he's going to be world champ this year, for sure."

Invaluable ratings points
Emslie collected $18 000 and an invaluable 1 032 ratings points that catapulted him from 35th to 27th on the world rankings; at the end of the year the top 27 automatically re-qualify for another season on the elite level tour.

Fanning, who pocketed US $30 000 and 1 200 points, has extended his lead at the top of the standings over Kelly Slater, his nearest rival, to more than 1 000 points and could mathematically win the world title at the next event at Mundaka in Spain.

"I'm just so stoked to have another win under my belt," said Fanning, who also won the first event of the year on the Gold Coast of Australia.

The best waves
"I'm pumped! After the semis I realised that you had to have the best waves to win, so that's what I did. I just sat and waited for the whole time."

Fanning caught four waves to Emslie's 12, but garnered his winning heat total of 18.43 with his first two rides, the second of which was a near perfect 9.93.

"That wave just sat up really, really nicely and I was able to get some good turns off," Fanning said. "I'm just stoked, that's about all I can say."

Emslie defeated current world No. 3 Joel Parkinson in their semifinal match-up while Fanning defeated compatriot Troy Brooks.

Quiksilver Pro France Final Results

Final: Mick Fanning (Aus) 18.43 def. Greg Emslie (RSA) 11.63

Semifinal Results

Heat 1: Greg Emslie (RSA) 17.43 def. Joel Parkinson (Aus) 15.97
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (Aus) 17.67 def. Troy Brooks (Aus) 15.40

SAinfo reporter

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