With the business end of the Ballito Pro, pres. by O’Neill kicking off this morning, only four athletes remain in the men’s and women’s draws.

The women’s quarter-finals were up first, and stacked matchups saw last year’s runner-up, Vahine Fierro (FRA), Sophia Medina (BRA), Tessa Thyssen (FRA) and Bella Kenworthy (USA) advance to the semi-finals.

Fierro was anticipated to have her work cut out for her facing off against former Championship Tour (CT) contender, Isabella Nichols (AUS), but the final score tells a different story.

Nichols drew first blood with two early scores, putting Fierro under pressure, but the fiery Tahitian responded with two excellent waves consisting of critical maneuvers in heavy sections that the judges handsomely rewarded with scores of 9.00 and 8.00 for an excellent heat total of 17.00 over Nichol’s 11.03.

The second heat saw Sophia Medina get her best Challenger Series (CS) result to date, defeating San Clemente’s Ellie Harrison by 10.90 to 9.00 to claim her spot in tomorrow’s semi-final.

CT legend, Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia made Tessa Thyssen work for her semi-final spot.

With both athletes placing pressure on each other the lead changed hands a couple of times but in the end it was the French surfer’s use of powerful sections on the inside that gave her the upper hand and a very narrow 12.83 to 12.43 win over Fitzgibbons.

The fourth quarter-final heat saw Nadia Erostarbe from the Basque Country and Bella Kenworthy go head-to-head for the final remaining semi-final spot.

With deteriorating conditions due to a strengthening onshore wind, judges rewarded Kenworthy for on-point surfing that delivered single big manoeuvres in critical sections.

A pair of sixes was all Kenworthy needed to defeat Erostarbe 13.07 to 7.83.

The women’s semi-final draw sees Fierro taking on Medina and Thyssen facing Kenworthy.

The action continues tomorrow with an 8am call for a possible 8.30 start.