Kiwi teen eliminates world surfing champion

Kiwi teenage sensation Sarah Mason upset world champion Steph Gilmore to set up an all-Kiwi quarterfinal against Paige Hareb in the Dream Tour women's surfing event in Taranaki today.

After Hareb had been clinical in disposing of her 2010 nemesis, Australian Rebecca Woods, in the third heat of the morning, Mason left it late to blitz Gilmore in tricky conditions at New Plymouth's Fitzroy Beach.

The 15-year-old was well behind after Gilmore had posted an early ride of 8.33 and the Aussie backed that up with a 5.33 to give her a commanding lead.

Mason, who won two leadup events at the TSB Bank Women's Surfing Festival, then hooked up a solid 6.93 with five minutes left.

With time almost up she produced a 7.10 to cause the biggest upset of the year.

Gilmore had looked untouchable in winning the opening two world tour tournaments in Australia.

But she met her match in the form of the Kiwi grommet.

The scale of the win wasn't lost on Mason.

"I'm buzzing right now, I couldn't really believe it could happen at the end of the heat," she said.

"I was just waiting for a wave to come out there and get the score I needed.

"I've got heaps of confidence now going into the last heat."

She said crowd support was a massive boost throughout the heat, encouraging her to chase the decisive wave.

"Just hearing the cheering, I've never really heard that before. It's really cool."

Gilmore was stunned by Mason's late charge.

"I got an ok score but I guess I let my guard down and underestimated the little tucker," she said.

"Right at the end there she got the score and good on her. To lose in the third round is hard to take but it's all part of the deal I guess.

"This is going to open it up for the other girls to pick up some points and keep it interesting, I guess."

The result was superb reward for the Taranaki organisers who pushed hard to get the event.

They are now guaranteed a New Zealander in the semifinals.

Hareb carried on her hot form from the opening rounds by jumping on Woods early and keeping her under the gun throughout their 30-minute heat in difficult one to one-and-a-half metre waves.

The 19-year-old Oakura surfer, currently ranked 9th in the world, grabbed two solid opening rides before an appreciative home crowd and racked up scores of 6.0 and 5.67.

She then drove her advantage home midway through the heat with a long left-hand wave which drew a score of 7.83 from the judging panel.  It was such a lengthy wave Hareb exited the water and ran all the way back up the beach to paddle out again.

Hareb's heat total of 13.83 resulted in an easy victory with Woods only able to muster a score of 8.07 from her two best rides.

Her quarterfinal appearance is her best result so far on this year's Dream Tour after two fourth round results in the opening events on the Gold Coast and in Victoria.  Both times she had previously lost to Woods, making the win this morning even sweeter.

The quarterfinals will feature two New Zealanders, two Australians, two Hawaiians and two South Americans.

Red-hot Australian Sally Fitzgibbons was the top qualifier - as she was from the first round - with a score of 18.07 to outclass South African Rosanne Hodge. Fitzgibbons' best wave score of 9.40 was the best of the event so far, pipping her first round effort of 9.33.

Hawaiian rookie Carissa Moore recorded an impressive 17.00 in ousting compatriot and world No 4 Coco Ho.

Other third-round winners were Hawaiian Melanie Bartels, Peru's Sofia Mulanovich, Australian Chelsea Hodges and Brazilian Silvana Lima.

Earlier today, organisers were happy to move the event's location to the No 1 beach at Fitzroy after being forced to use an isolated location south of New Plymouth for the first two rounds. Competition on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday was postponed because of inadequate conditions.

The quarterfinals will, conditions allowing, be held tomorrow morning.

-with NZPA

- © Fairfax NZ News