Stephanie Gilmore Crowned Queen of 2008 Rip Curl Women’s Pro

Stepanie Gilmore Wins Rip Curl Pro

The second event on the ASP Womens World Tour, the Rip Curl Women’s Pro, was won yesterday by reigning ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore of Australia.

Gilmore shredded in clean four-to-six foot surf at Bells Beach today on her way to the crown.

Although 2004 ASP Women’s World Champion Sofia Mulanovich (PER), was the leader for the most of the final, Gilmore stroked into a solid Bells breaker with five minutes remaining and stylishly combined a series of floaters and top turns to score the day’s high single-wave score of a 9.33 out of a possible 10.

Yesterday’s victory marks the second consecutive Rip Curl Women’s Pro win for Gilmore, who jumps from 9th to 2nd in the standings.

Rip Curl Womens Pro – Quarterfinalists Decided

Beachley Surfing Rip Curl Pro

The women hit the water at Bells Beach, (AUS), today in clean 3 foot surf after the men started yesterday in larger 8 foot waves.

They ran through three rounds to get down to the remaining eight quarterfinalists.

Layne Beachley (AUS), seven-time ASP Women’s World Champion and three-time winner of the ASP Women’s World Tour event at Bells Beach (’94, ’98, ’99), scored the day’s highest heat total with a 16.96 out of a possible 20.

Here are the Round 3 results and eight quarterfinalists:
Heat 1: Samantha Cornish (AUS) 12.76 def. Nicola Atherton (AUS) 8.83
Heat 2: Layne Beachley (AUS) 16.96 def. Serena Brooke (AUS) 6.83
Heat 3: Megan Abubo (HAW) 12.33 vs. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 12.00
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 13.84 def. Karina Petroni (USA) 7.26
Heat 5: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 13.33 def. Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS) 7.83
Heat 6: Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 14.67 def. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 12.27
Heat 7: Amee Donohoe (AUS) 10.97 def. Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 10.33
Heat 8: Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 10.00 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 7.03