Dreamy Conditions To Set Up Exciting Finals Day For 2023 Krui Pro QS 5,000

The new day brought clear skies and dreamy, 3-5 foot waves at Ujung Bocur with a light offshore breeze that had competitors itching to get going. Two rounds of competition for both Men's and Women's were completed to set up an exciting Finals Day. With slightly bigger waves and good weather conditions on the forecast, it's looking like the perfect conditions to wrap up an exciting week of competition.

Former Championship Tour competitor, Morgan Cibilic found his rhythm in the Round of 32, throwing down huge turns for an excellent heat score and a fun battle with Lennix Smith. Cibilic dropped a 9.00 before Smith replied with a 9.57 and the heat was on. Cibilic scored a 7.33 as his backup, for a total of 16.33 with Smith finishing behind him in second place.

"That felt so good, to get waves like that in a heat," said Cibilic. "I feel like Lennix and I got the two best waves of the day for sure. It can be a bit slow out there, but it's so dreamy when waves like that come through, especially with only the two of us out there!"

The two Australians are good friends and it was a special heat for Smith. "I was out there at the back with Morgs and the boys, and I didn't think there would be that many waves, but I was so happy to get the last one and get that score. We're good mates, I look up to him, and for us both to get 9's was amazing."

Riaru Ito - WSL / Tim Hain

Japan's Riaru Ito also enjoyed an excellent heat with powerful surfing and perfect wave selection, scoring a total of 16.33 in his Round of 32 match to advance over Mike Clayton-Brown. Cibilic and Clayton-Brown later both advanced to the Quarterfinals, while Ito eliminated Lennix Smith in a tightly contested Round of 16 heat against fellow countryman, Rinta Oooto. This sets up an exciting Quarterfinals clash between Cibilic and Ito, and Clayton-Brown against Oooto.

Rounding out the Quarterfinals are Alister Reginato, Daiki Tanaka, Kyuss King and Axel Curotta.

Giada Legati - WSL / Federico Vanno

The Women's Quarterfinals brought some surprise exits, the first of which was top ranked Nanaho Tsuzuki bested by Giada Legati, and then Kirra Pinkerton was taken down by the Basque Country's 16-year-old Janire Gonzalez Etxabarri in a wave starved heat. It was a tough loss for Pinkerton, who managed to score an excellent heat of 17.47 earlier in the day in the Round of 16. Rising star Saffi Vette had a tough loss to 14-year-old Annette Gonzalez Etxabarri who held onto a small lead to advance to the Semifinals.

In the last heat of the day, Anon Matsuoka showed she meant business when she quickly scored a 7.00 ride to put the pressure on Philippa Anderson. Matsuoka backed it up with a 5.83, and Anderson could never reply with a better score and was eliminated from the competition.

Organisers will make a call tomorrow, Sunday, June 18 at 6:30 a.m. local time for a possible 6:45 a.m. start to Finals Day.