Wilkinson leads Aussie J-Bay surf assault
Matt Wilkinson has won his round-four heat to be the only Australian surfer to qualify directly for the J-Bay Open quarter-finals.
After Tuesday's surfing was called off due to a mako shark spotting, competitors returned to Jeffreys Bay on Wednesday to complete round-four action.
World championship leader Wilkinson produced a final-wave score of 9.43 for a total of 17.93, to account for French Polynesia's Michel Bourez and American Conner Coffin in heat four.
Earlier, Filipe Toledo won heat three with scores of 9.00 and a perfect 10.
The Brazilian sent Australia's Julian Smith and local favourite Jordy Smith into must-win round-five heats against Bourez and Coffin respectively.
The other round-five heats pit Australian Mick Fanning against Frenchman Joan Duru and Australian world No.5 Owen Wright takes on world champion John John Florence of Hawaii.
Joining Wilkinson and Toledo in the last eight after booking their berths on Tuesday were Portugal's Frederico Morais and Brazil's 2014 world champion Gabriel Medina.
