Fitzgibbons loses in surf pro quarters
Australian Sally Fitzgibbons will need strong finishes at the final two events of this year's World Surf League tour if she is to challenge for the overall title after finishing fifth at the France Pro.
Fitzgibbons, third coming into the eighth event of the season, looked to be well-matched with France's Johanne Defay (ninth) in their quarterfinal .
But Defay traded off her local knowledge to oust Fitzgibbons with a two-wave score of 15.4 to 9.26.
In clean four to six foot waves Defay took the best options and registered the top single wave score of the competition to that point with a 9.4.
Fitzgibbons, whose best title result was runner-up back in 2011, will now need some top shelf results in Portugal and Hawaii to challenge the likes of Carissa Moore (Hawaii) and Lakey Paterson (USA) who won through to the semifinals on Tuesday along with Defay.
American Caroline Marks also qualified for the last four.
On Monday Australia's Julian Wilson, Jack Freestone, Wade Carmichael, Adrian Buchan and Ryan Callinan all booked spots in the last-16 of the men's event.
