Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Ethan Ewing has pulled off a last-ditch wave to book a semi-final spot at the Rio Pro, where the Australian will take on reigning world champion and crowd favourite Yago Dora.
The pair will meet at Saquarema in a rematch of their 2023 title showdown, which Dora won by wowing the judges to score a perfect 10.
While the men’s event went on hold after the quarter-finals, the women’s semis were completed with French Tahitian 15-year-old Tya Zebrowski winning through to her first Championship Tour final.
Zebrowski overcame another World Surf League tour rookie in Spaniard Nadia Erostarbe.
The teen will meet Sawyer Lindblad in the decider after she downed fellow American Caroline Marks.
Queenslander Ewing, who has made an early exit in the past two events since winning the Gold Coast Pro, took on another French Tahitian in Kauli Vaast in the quarters.
The Paris Olympics gold medallist left Ewing needing a score of 5.84 for victory and the 27-year-old from Stradbroke Island took off on a wave with a little over two minutes remaining.
The judges took extra time to mull the score and after the buzzer awarded Ewing a 6.07 which gave him the narrow win, 13.07 to 12.84.
“That was pretty stressful towards the end,” said Ewing, who has jumped two spots to world No.7 on the rankings.”I actually messed up, I think it was like my third or fourth wave, and I thought that could have been a good score and it kind of put me in that tricky situation.
“It feels good just to like finish a wave when you’re under pressure – I knew it was going to be kind of close, so, yeah, pretty happy to get through that.”
Fellow Australian Morgan Cibilic faced Brazil’s Joao Chianca in his last-eight clash and despite the Novocastrian producing the best-scoring ride of the heat, he suffered a tight loss, 13.27 to 12.76.
Chianca will meet Italian Leo Fioravanti, who won at the previous tour stop in El Salvador, in the other semi-final.
Dora, who is currently ranked world No.3 and looking for his first title of the season, snared his semi appearance courtesy of victory over fellow Brazilian Miguel Pupo.
Organisers have already called off competition on Tuesday, with the trophies to be decided on Wednesday local time.
