COOLANGATTA, Queensland/Australia (Thursday 4 March, 2010) – Jordy Smith completed one of the best days of his burgeoning career by ousting former nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) and current World No. 3 Bede Durbidge (AUS), two of the biggest names in competitive surfing, from the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by Land Rover and move into the semifinals at the first stop on the 2010 ASP World Tour.

There were upsets galore as the remaining 16 surfers in Round 4 of the event strutted their stuff in the outstanding 1 – 1.5 metre waves peeling down the point at Snapper Rocks, Queensland, with Smith and fellow new-school progressive ripper Dane Reynolds (USA) leading what appears to be a changing of the guard as they charged past the established campaigners and into what will be a fiercely contested semifinal encounter.

Smith led throughout against Slater, utilising his repertoire of radical fins-free manoeuvres, seemingly effortless floaters and deep tube rides to rack up 16.10 points out of 20, leaving the former two-time event champion needing a near perfect 9.10 points out of 10 when the heat ended.

“He is the king of our sport so just being out there surfing in a heat with him, I said to my manager earlier, ‘I don’t even care if I lose,’” Smith said of his first man-on-man clash with Slater. “You don’t get many opportunities to surf against Kelly, and also I guess it’s another good birthday present for my Mom. It was her birthday yesterday, so just make it through a couple heats is pretty cool.”

Smith went on to defeat Durbidge in their quarterfinal match-up, using a similar approach of smart heat tactics and committed surfing to overcome the in form Gold Coast local who had posted the highest heat total of the event to date, 19.30, in his Round 3 victory.

Smith will be hoping that his semifinal with Reynolds, who treated the spectators to an awesome display of surfing in ousting crowd favourite and defending champion Joel Parkinson (AUS) with 19.20 points in the quarters, will be a case of third time lucky and that he can advance to his first final at the top level of competitive surfing.

In his previous two semifinals he lost to eventual event winner Taj Burrow (AUS) as a wildcard at Jeffreys Bay in 2006 and was defeated by Parkinson, who also went on to win, at Bells Beach last Easter.

The other semi will see ASP World No. 4 Burrow up against Bobby Martinez (USA) after the pair defeated Adriano de Souza (BRA) and Kai Otten (AUS), who had eliminated reigning two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS) in Round 4, in their respective quarterfinals.

Running in conjunction with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, the ASP Top 17 completed the opening four heats of Round 3 of the Roxy Pro Gold Coast.

Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 22, reigning three-time ASP World Champion, and Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 19, current ASP World No. 5, dominated the mid-day action, with the youngster announcing herself as a legitimate ASP Women’s World Title contender.

South Africa’s Rosanne Hodge (East London) was not in action today and will take on former ASP Women’s Wold Champion Chelsea Hedges (AUS) in Heat 6 of Round 3 when the event recommences.

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 6:30am to assess conditions for a possible 7:30am start (11.30pm today (Thursday), SA Time).

All the action from Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast pres. by Land Rover and the Roxy Pro Gold Coast will be webcast LIVE via www.quiksilverpro.com.au

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.86 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.50
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.53 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.60
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 16.06 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.43
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) 15.76 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.57
Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.44 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.23
Heat 6: Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.63 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 10.33
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.97 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 9.17
Heat 8: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.10 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 13.17

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:

QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.70 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.40
QF 2: Bobby Martinez (USA) 16.66 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.64
QF 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 19.20 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.47
QF 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.10 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.77

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST SEMIFINAL MATCH-UPS:

SF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Bobby Martinez (USA)
SF 2: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 15.17 def. Amee Donohoe (AUS) 3.97
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.33 def. Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 14.84
Heat 3: Rebecca Woods (AUS) 14.60 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 11.08
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 16.00 def. Tyler Wright (AUS) 14.03

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 5: Silvana Lima (BRA) vs. Lee Ann Curren (FRA)
Heat 6: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) vs. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF)
Heat 7: Melanie Bartels (HAW) vs. Jessi Miley-Dyer (HAW)
Heat 8: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) vs. Carissa Moore (HAW)

Ends

Digital Photographs:
High-resolution digital images for newspapers and Internet sites are available via the ASP Digital Images Department – please contact kirstin@aspworldtour.com

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About ASP:

The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) is the governing body of professional surfing. Crowning surfing’s undisputed world champions since 1976, the ASP sanctions the following tours: the ASP World Tour, the ASP Women’s World Tour, the World Qualifying Series (WQS) and the World Longboarding, Junior and Masters Championships. The ASP is dedicated to showcasing the world’s best surfing talent in a variety of progressive formats and has revolutionized the way the world watches surfing via their webcasts. The organization is divided into seven different regions: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Hawaii, North America, and South America.