South African charge ends at Ballito Pro
With Sarah Baum knocked out in the quarter-finals, no South Africans are left in the women's or men's competitions.
South Africa’s hopes in the Ballito Pro pres. by O’Neill ended when Durban surfer Sarah Baum was knocked out at the quarter-final stage today.
Hopes were high when Baum had a positive start to the morning, rallying late in her Round of 16 heat against Australian Ellie Harrison to take a hugely popular win in front of the Willard Beach crowd.
She initially struggled for points in a low scoring matchup, but came through when it counted on her final two waves to earn a narrow victory.
It was South Africa vs Australia again in the quarterfinal, when Baum was drawn against Championship Tour (CT) regular Isabella Nichols, who just missed this year’s mid-season cut to end up in Ballito.
Photo: Pierre Tostee/World Surf League.
Baum never really got going in the heat, chasing from the second wave and unable to find a score above 5.0 to keep her within touching distance.
She ultimately lost by just over four points, ending her bid to win the event for the second time after claiming gold in 2019.
Elsewhere in the women’s heats today, Australian Sally Fitzgibbons was upset by France’s Vahine Fierro in the first quarter-final of the day.
The former world number one boosted her chances with her last two waves to reach 13.46 points, but it was not enough to match Fierro’s consistency and final tally of 13.93.
Photo: Pierre Tostee/World Surf League.
Fierro will take on Australian Zahli Kelly, who beat Bella Kenworthy and Nadia Erostarbe to reach her semi-final berth.
After knocking out Nanaho Tsuzuki in the Round of 16, Australian Bronte Macaulay faced American Alyssa Spencer in the best heat of the day.
The duo traded big scores and leads throughout their thrilling quarter-final, ending up just 0.13 points away from each other.
Macaulay’s third wave 8.33 would be enough to sail through most matchups, but Spencer answered with back-to-back scores of 7.60 and 7.63 to get within touching distance.
Their 15.36 to 15.23 differential is the closest in this year’s knockout stages.
Photo: Pierre Tostee/World Surf League.
Macaulay will face her countrywoman Nichols in the other semi-final, meaning three of the four women’s semi-finalists hail from Australia.
Last year’s final saw Molly Picklum beat Macy Callaghan in an all-Australian final and it is clear that condition suit surfers from down under.
On the men’s side, Australian Jacob Willcox could not match the form that saw him earn a perfect 10 yesterday, losing to American Kade Matson in the first quarter-final.
Matson will face Portugal’s Frederico Morais, who beat Brazilian Alejo Muniz, in the first men’s semi-final tomorrow.
The other semi-final will see Frenchman Joan Duru take on American Cole Houshmand.
First call is at 7am tomorrow, follow the Ballito Pro on social media for live updates.
A full list of event results can be found at worldsurfleague.com/events/2023/cs/144/ballito-pro/results.
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