Durban’s Luke Thompson and Jeffrey’s Bay local Matt McGillivray will suit up for the Ballito Pro Round of 16 as the only South Africans left in the field.

Both surfers made it through their men’s Round of 32 heats at Willard Beach this morning (July 3), while Cape Town’s Adin Masencamp was unfortunately knocked out.

Local hopeful Thompson surfed the first heat of the day, but had to wait until 9.35am to get underway as organisers chose to wait for improved wave conditions.

Facing a packed heat against Hawaii’s Eli Hanneman, Portugal’s Frederico Morais and Australia’s Jackson Baker – all of whom have Championship Tour experience – one may have expected a nervy start from the 21-year-old talent.

But Thompson looked calm from the get go, opening with a solid 6.67 on his first wave of the day, later finding a 6.90 to win the heat ahead of Hanneman.

Thompson’s previous best Challenger Series finish is 9th, in Ballito in 2022 and Brazil in 2023, and he will be hoping to set a new career best later this week. He will face Brazil’s Mateus Herdy in the Round of 16.

McGillivray (28) has spent more time at the top-level, including five years of Championship Tour experience and a berth in last year’s Olympics.

It has been an up-and-down 2025 for him so far however, and a second-place finish in El Salvador was not enough to avoid the mid-season cut, which is why he is surfing the Ballito Pro.

He has not been at his absolute best in the competition so far, needing a late wave to make it through the Round of 64 earlier this week.

It was much the same in the first two-thirds of his heat this morning, where he was unable to score above 3.30 in his first five attempts.

But as the remaining time dipped under 10 minutes, McGillivray came alive with two back-to-back waves that catapulted him into heat contention.

He landed an aerial move with about eight minutes to go that scored him 6.83, which he followed up with a quickfire double turn adjudged at 5.03.

That was enough to make it through an enthralling heat in second position behind Hawaii’s Shion Crawford, while Brazil’s Deivid Silva – a former winner in Ballito – and Japan’s Hiroto Ohhara were knocked out.

McGillivray will face Australia’s Oscar Berry in the Round of 16.

Elsewhere, Masencamp could not get it going in the following heat and he finished third behind Berry and New Zealand’s Billy Stairmand.

Meanwhile, the first perfect-10 wave of this year’s Ballito Pro was registered by Mexico’s Lucas Cassity (16), who landed a massive aerial spin in Heat 2.

Competition surfing is finished for the day, with the first call being made at 7am tomorrow.

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