Brazilian, Deivid Silva, was crowned as the winner of the 2019 Ballito Pro pres by O’Neill after convincingly defeating Australian, Jack Freestone, in the final of the 51st edition of the Ballito Pro Sunday.
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Silva (ranked 4th) and 2018 event runner-up Freestone (ranked 24th), are both members of the elite Top 32 ranked surfers on the WSL Championship Tour (CT), opted for a power surfing strategy on Finals Day.
In the 35 minute final, Silva started strongly by unleashing three massive backhand turns for an excellent 8.33 out of 10, which immediately put Freestone under pressure.
Freestone could only produce a series of low-scoring rides before Silva picked up a beautiful set wave and delivered two gravity-defying manoeuvres that the judges rewarded with a near-perfect score of 9.3.
That put the Australian into a near impossible situation and needing to find two new scores totalling 17.64, before time ran out and he had to settle for a second successive runner-up finish.
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The victory and haul of 10,000 points saw Silva rocket 126 places up the QS rankings to No. 4.
“This is the best thing in my life right now!” said Silva.
“I’m so happy I got two good waves in that heat because Jack (Freestone) surfs so well, so I just thank God for giving me those two waves. The waves are good, even though the wind is strong, and I got that one big wave for two manoeuvres, so I am stoked,” added the Brazilian.
Ballito Pro final results:
- Deivid Silva (BRA) 17.63
- Jack Freestone (AUS) 9.46
WSL Qualifying Series (QS) Rankings (after Ballito Pro)
- Jadson Andre (BRA) 16,000 points
- Jorgann Couzinet (FRA) 13,160
- Matt Banting (AUS) 12,550
- Deivid Silva (BRA) 12,320 (Ballito Pro winner)
- Reo Inaba (JPN) 12,210
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