East London’s Rosanne Hodge marked her debut on surfing’s 2007 ASP Women’s World Tour by defeating 2004 World Champ Sofia Mulanovich (Peru) to move into the third round of the US $80 000 (approx R565 000) Roxy Pro Gold Coast presented by Samsung in Australia on Tuesday.
It was not all plain sailing for Hodge, after she placed third in her opening heat behind veteran Samantha Cornish and fellow Australian and current world #2 Melanie Redman-Carr, in the clean one metre (3 foot) waves at the famed Snapper Rocks in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast.
This relegated the 19 year-old SA rookie to a sudden death second-round encounter against former event winner Jacqueline Silva (Brazil) and Mulanovich, where she placed second behind the Brazilian thanks to two good 6-point rides, and ahead of the Peruvian who was eliminated from the event in a major upset.
Hodge, who qualified for the a place amongst the elite top 17 ranked female surfers in the world in her first full year on the World Qualifying Series (WQS) in 2006, now faces a one-on-one encounter against Redman-Carr in round three.
Chelsea Hedges (formerly Georgeson), the 2005 World Champion and now a resident at Snapper Rocks, was the standout of the first day of the opening event of the 2007 season, posting the day’s highest heat total, an 18.40 points out 20.00, after earning a near-perfect 9.57 (out of 10.00) in the dying seconds of her first-round heat.
The biggest upset of the day came when 14 year-old Carissa Moore (Hawaii), the winner of the Roxy Wildcard Trials, defeated reigning and seven-time World Champ Layne Beachley (Aus), and placed second to advance to round three, where the two will meet again under the one-on-one format.
Highly-touted Gold Coast local Stephanie Gilmore proved her stunning 2005 wildcard victory was no fluke, by convincingly winning her debut encounter as a fully-fledged World Tour campaigner, although she left it late before pulling off back-to-back 8-point rides to clinch her a place in the third round.
Contest director Rod Brooks had no hesitation in sending the world’s top 17 women and wildcard Carissa Moore out into the clean one metre waves at Snapper Rocks yesterday morning, the first day of the 13-day period for both events, ending March 11.
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