Adriano And Carissa 2014 Hurley Australian Open Of Surfing Champions

Two of the world’s most recognised surfers, Brazilian Adriano de Souza and Hawaiian Carissa Moore, have stormed to the winner’s podium in the Men’s and Women’s 6-star World Qualifying Series divisions of the 2014 Hurley Australian Open of Surfing.

De Souza’s win at iconic Manly Beach comes just one week after a finals appearance at Pipeline in Hawaii and adds to his list of career wins at locations such as Bells Beach-Australia, Jeffrey’s Bay South-Africa and Rio Brazil.

De Souza overcame a very in-form Julian Wilson in the final. De Souza’s score was a whopping 17.20 pts to Wilson’s low 8.34pts, thanks to a super quick start that saw the Brazilian rack up two excellent waves before a strong southerly change whipped up conditions.

Wilson, the event’s No. 1 seed, had been in sizzling form all week, barely putting a foot wrong. His repertoire throughout the early rounds included lightening-quick airs, full rail carves and clean backhand and forehand hits, but in the decider the wheels fell off. To the disappointment of friends and fans, Wilson fell on what for him are routine moves.

By winning the Hurley Australian Open of Surfing, De Souza pockets $25,000, was awarded 3,500 all-important WQS ratings points and logs another stat in the history books.

“It feels amazing to be the first Brazilian to win the Hurley Australian Open of Surfing!” De Souza said. “I’ve got so much respect for Julian Wilson, he’s number six in the world and the best guy in the event. I was lucky that he fell off a few times in the final. It’s great to have the support from the Brazilian guys in the event and the fans on the beach. It’s the perfect start to my year. It’s been such a great event, thank you to everybody.”

Wilson was obviously disappointed with his momentary form slump in the decider, but takes a lot of positives as he looks ahead to the next events.

“I just couldn’t build any momentum and I just felt like I was rushing,” said Wilson. “I had a really fun week in challenging conditions, I had some good heats and I was only one spot from the win. If I came here and lost early it wouldn’t have done me any good, but I’ll take a lot of confidence into the rest of the year.”

Two-time and reigning ASP Women’s World Champion, Carissa Moore, dropped one of the best single maneuvers by a female surfer this web content provider has ever seen on her way to winning the women’s final over fellow Hawaiian Alessa Quizon.

Obviously a world champ knows how to surf, but one particular layback snap Moore did was next-level. Completely controlled, fins out, full layback at speed – it was epic. The performance benchmark for women’s surfing was lifted higher with that single move. You can guarantee Moore’s rivals will be out there looking to incorporate and replicate the move in there own repertoire from tomorrow onwards.

The wave score for Moore was a 9.43 out of a possible perfect 10 and from there the final was done.

“It’s been a while since I had a jersey on and it was good to get back into it, then this morning I started getting nervous and I just had to tell myself to relax and have fun,” said Moore. “The conditions really smoothed out and the waves were super fun today. I got that 9.43 in the Final and it was such a nice wave, but I didn’t expect to get that score. I did a speed floater and then tried to push the last turn as hard as I could and I’m just stoked that I popped back up after it.”

Quizon is having a breakthrough year, next month she will make her debut as one of the Top 17 surfers on the ASP Women’s World Championship and today she made the Final of an ASP 6-Star QS event for the first time. Quizon is in great form posting two scores in the 7-point-range in the Final, but unfortunately for her she ran into Moore and had to settle for second.

“I’m super happy to have had a final against Carissa,” Quizon said. “We grew up surfing with each other and have surfed against each other our whole childhood. I’m so happy for her, and I’m happy that I made it this far. I feel like I’m building momentum and I’m looking forward to my first WCT event. I’m being positive and focused, but I’m also having fun.”

Final Results Hurley Australian Open of Surfing – 6 star World Qualifying Series divisions.

MEN’S

FINAL: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 17.20 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 8.34

SF 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.00 def. Tomas Hermes (BRA) 14.33
SF 2: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 17.40 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 10.53

QF 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.63 def. Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 13.03
QF 2: Tomas Hermes (BRA) 13.33 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.17
QF 3: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 15.77 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.33
QF 4: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 16.53 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.16

WOMEN’S

FINAL: Carissa Moore (HAW) 17.10 def. Alessa Quizon (HAW) 15.80

SF 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 9.94 def. Maud Le Car (FRA) 9.56
SF 2: Alessa Quizon (HAW) 14.90 def. Malia Manuel (HAW) 12.60

QF 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 16.33 def. Leila Hurst (HAW) 5.10
QF 2: Maud Le Car (FRA) 12.70 def. Georgia Fish (AUS) 12.67
QF 3: Alessa Quizon (HAW) 15.50 def. Nage Melamed (HAW) 12.60
QF 4: Malia Manuel (HAW) 17.90 def. Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 12.00