THE Rip Curl Newcastle Cup, the second stop on the World Surf League (WSL) 2021 Championship Tour (CT), saw a dramatic day in its first elimination rounds in three-to-four foot surf at Merewether.
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All surfers in the women's top five, except for former world champions Carissa Moore and Stephanie Gilmore, fell early in Tuesday's elimination rounds, including current world number one Tyler Wright (Culburra Beach), equal-number three Sally Fitzgibbons (Gerroa), equal-number three Tatiana Weston-Webb and number five Lakey Peterson.
Wright, a two-time WSL champion, leaves Newcastle in equal-ninth place after falling short to Californian Courtney Conlogue in heat four of the round of 16.
Wright immediately opted to surf the inside, while Conlogue kept to the outside sets.
Conlogue's decision secured her a strong lead with a 7.00 (out of a possible 10) and 5.30 backup score.
Wright was unable to find the 6.64 required to advance, losing 12.30 to 10.74.
"Strategy-wise, I feel like we did a great job," Wright said.
"There's not much I'd actually change from that heat.
"I was only a few metres off missing two critical waves, which I could have converted into the 6.50 that I needed.
"As you can see, it's a pretty big playing field out there and split between the inside and outside so I rolled the dice which didn't work but Courtney [Conlogue] also surfed really well and made the most of her opportunities.
"I've had a really fun time here in Newcastle so will probably hang around here before the next event and keep having a good time with the family.
"I'm just so happy to be back home and competing - I feel really lucky."
After a near-miss in the elimination round, Sunshine Coast surfer Keely Andrew was looking for redemption when she took on former Kiama High School student Sally Fitzgibbons in the round of 16.
Andrew looked sharp in the matchup, easily beating Fitzgibbons with a commendable 14.23 heat total (out of a possible 20) to 9.23.
The third South Coast product eliminated on Tuesday was Culburra Beach's Mikey Wright.
The Culburra Beach Boardrider finished third, with an 8.67 in heat two of the second round, behind fellow Australians Julian Wilson (12.80) and Jack Robinson (10.90).
Thankfully Culburra Beach's Olympic qualifier Owen Wright is still alive after recording a 13.77 in round two to defeat Brazil's Adriano de Souza (13.66) and countrymen Matt Banting (11.00).
Wright will now face Brazil's Miguel Pupo in heat eight of the round of 32.
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