Day One of the 2012 Billabong Pro, Tahiti

Round one of the Billabong Pro, Tahiti (and heats one and two of the second round) ran today in underwhelming, four-five feet Chopes. Ads De Souza was, on paper, standout performer of the day with a combined heat-total of 19.43. “I’m so happy right now,” he said. “Last year was really big and today is only four feet, but still very fun. I just had fun and caught the good barrels and the judges liked it. I’m very happy right now. I’m having a good year. Every year, I focus on what I need to improve on and go out and work on it. I feel more confident at every spot, I feel strong and have good boards right now.” Johnny Florence was, unsurprisingly, another standout. Kid’s been hitting Chopes since age 10 and knows the place intimately to win his round one heat convincingly. “It’s actually cleaned up a lot from this morning,” said the Hawaiian. “This morning was really bad. The sun’s come out now though and there are a few, little barrels. It’s still really fun. We’re here in Tahiti and I’m loving it. I was trying to find a cleaner, open waves and do whatever I could with them. I had one where I did a bunch of turns and ended up on the reef and had another where I got a little barrel. It’s actually scary at this size and in these conditions on your backhand because the barrels really chandelier and you can end up on the reef really quick. Pumped to get through, though.” And, as if you couldn’t have guessed, a fashionably-late Kelly Slater also killed his round one match. “I actually caught the last plane I could have caught to make my heat and I barely made it this morning,” he said. “It’s not often that the waves in California are better than Tahiti, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of surf here and we’ve had pretty good waves at home. It doesn’t look like there’s a hot forecast for this year which is a shame, but there’s still fun surf to be had. It’s Teahupo’o and you can sometimes take for granted how beautiful the waves are here. I’ve been coming here since ’93 so it’s about 20 years and I still love it. It’s still so raw. There’s no real big business here. It’s all families and we stay with them and it’s still a very special place.” In a surprise end to the day, Jordy Smith was eliminated from the event by wildcard winner Ricardo Dos Santos in the final heat. In the morning, Jules Wilson will take on Willian Cardoso, possibly at 7am. Tune in here to catch it. BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 1 RESULTS: Heat 1: John John Florence (HAW) 17.34, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.50, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 10.50Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.77, Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.23, Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.00Heat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) 11.83, Mick Fanning (AUS) 8.87, Brett Simpson (USA) 5.50Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 19.43, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 10.60, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 9.13Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.50, Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) 11.33, Kai Otton (AUS) 2.83Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.00, Alain Riou (PYF) 8.30, Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.10Heat 7: Josh Kerr (AUS) 16.23, Jadson Andre (BRA) 13.67, Tiago Pires (PRT) 3.93Heat 8: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.83, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 7.60, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 4.40Heat 9: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.96, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.53, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 6.90Heat 10: Heitor Alves (BRA 9.50), Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 9.46, Julian Wilson (AUS) 2.57Heat 11: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.43, Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.77, Adam Melling (AUS) 3.27Heat 12: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.93, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.77, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.70 BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 2 RESULTS: Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.60 def. Alain Riou (PYF) 16.63Heat 2: Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) 15.37 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 9.67 BILLABONG PRO TAHITI REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS: Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Willian Cardoso (BRA)Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)Heat 6: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)Heat 7: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)Heat 8: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)Heat 11: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF) All photos: ASP