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© ASP
With stunning ferocity, Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia took the women’s title for the 2012 Billabong Rio Pro.
At Sportbay, we could not be prouder. We love Sally.
However, we have been curious at what’s been going on with the men’s competition and why they had only completed one round while the women have finished a whole competition.
We mean, what’s lacking here.
However, yesterday, the men got back to work after a four-day lay period, according to the ASP.
With the “challenging” surf hitting crests upwards of 6 feet (2 meters), the surfers of the ASP’s Top 34 had their work cut out for them.
It was the Aussie Adam Melling who took the forefront during Round 2 of the 2012 Billabong Rio Pro. Flawlessly wrangling “two deep tubes”, Melling took not only the highest single wave score with a 9.67 but also snagged the highest heat total of the day with a 17. 
“I snuck out of that first one that was a bit of a close out and on my way back out that other one doubled up real well and ran off,” Melling said in an ASP press release. “It was sucking out off of the bank pretty well. It feels really good to get good waves in a heat.”
It was a wild card contender who proved to deliver the biggest upset of the day. Peterson Crisanto of Brazil eliminated his fellow countryman, Gabriel Medina, in the opening heat of Round 2. Peterson said he “tried to stay relaxed” as he tore into some “barreling righthanders” to advance into Round 3.
“I knew that heat wasn’t going to be easy with Gabriel (Medina) so I just tried to stay on the rights and try and find the barrels,” Crisanto said in an ASP press release. “I almost made the first barrel, but I made the second one, so I’m happy to get through to the next round.
The rookie sensation John John Florence of Hawaii also came out on fire during Round 2. Rolling through some barrels and “punting critical airs in the pounding conditions”, Florence was glad he avoided another 25th placement after his disappointing Round 1 performance.
“We’ve been sitting around these last couple of days,” Florence said in an ASP press release. “There really haven’t been any waves and then we were straight into these conditions. It seems like I surf the best when I’m having fun, but obviously you’ve got the jersey on and you know you need to finish your waves off.”
Round 3 of the competition also began with Tiago Pire of Portugal defeating Own Wright of Australia while Michel Bourez of French Polynesia defeated Brett Simpson of the USA.
Live action and highlights can be found at the 2012 Billabong Rio Pro website.
The Sportbay Team has been waiting for four days for these guys to get back in the waves. We hope tomorrow’s competition brings just as much action and excitement to the waves of Arpoador.
