Vans US Open of Surfing (part five)

The sand scorched at the US Open today, and it wasn’t because of the 82-degree heat. Upsets were aplenty, with top seeds Kelly Slater, Sebastian Zietz, Miguel Pupo and C.J. Hobgood all being ousted from competition. Despite his valiant attempt at a buzzer-beater, the 11-times World Champ was shown the exit by a steaming Michel Bourez. “I knew he was going to try to put a show on and do some big airs,” said Michel. “I saw him trying to look for the rights and my goal was to catch a few lefts first. Then I got that right and tried that air, so that was the good one for me. I saw Kelly from behind on that last wave and he did five or six turns and the wave was really tiny. I heard the crowd cheer and thought maybe I made a mistake.”

Defending champ Julian Wilson took another step toward his second $100k payday, out-doing Alex Ribero’s aerial onslaught in Heat 2. “Surfing against a guy like Alex is always dangerous because he didn’t have much to lose,” commented Julian. “I was able to do a few backside turns put scores on the board and push him enough to fall on those backside airs. He came close on one and it could have turned the heat, but it was nice to build some momentum after a close loss yesterday.”

Jadson Andre was gracious in his win over a recently-injured Seabass. “I just feel bad for Seabass because he wasn’t 100 percent,” said Jadson. “I’m still stoked to win the heat and it was a really important round for me. I’m feeling healthy and I hope I can keep going. I knew that was going to be a really tough heat and that’s why I tried to catch waves as fast I could so I didn’t give him too much opportunity.”

Be sure to check out all the action tomorrow, right here. And if y’need more convincing? Heat 2, Round 16. – Rupert Partridge.

VANS US OPEN OF SURFING ROUND OF 24 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Jadson Andre (BRA) 15.00 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 8.00
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.93 def. Alex Ribeiro (BRA) 8.86
Heat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.10 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 6.17
Heat 4: Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.80 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 11.54
Heat 5: Hodei Collazo (EUK) 12.80 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.50
Heat 6: Matt Banting (AUS) 13.33 def. Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 11.43
Heat 7: Nat Young (USA) 15.16 def. Charles Martin (GLP) 11.40
Heat 8: Mitch Crews (AUS) 15.27 def. Beyrick De Vries (ZAF) 12.84

UPCOMING VANS US OPEN OF SURFING ROUND OF 16 MATCH UPS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 2: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 3: Vincent Duvignac (FRA) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Hodei Collazo (EUK)
Heat 6: Granger Larsen (HAW) vs. Matt Banting (AUS)
Heat 7: Marc Lacomare (FRA) vs. Nat Young (USA)
Heat 8: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. Mitch Crews (AUS)