Freestone, the recent winner of the Red Bull Airborne Bali, was on the hunt throughout the entire heat and capitalized on opportunities under Ferreira’s priority. As time counted down, the Brasilian was at a loss without any strong scores and leaves Bali in Equal 17th place. Freestone progresses into the Round of 16 as he aims for a fourth event win at Keramas to go with his two World Junior Titles and Red Bull Airborne win.

“That was definitely a big win for me,” Freestone said. “Every time you can get out of the Round 3, it’s a big win. I’ve put a lot of time out here at Keramas and have surfed it so many times and in events as well, so I definitely have a special relationship with it and feel like I know the line up well. I’d love to win this event for sure.”

“My first wave I maybe pushed too hard and was kind of falling,” Duru said. “I knew I needed to surf that heat well but I didn’t think too much. I just went for it. I remember my fellow Frenchman Marc Lacomare back in the day during the Juniors. He was really ripping here and getting 9-point rides, so I just tried to surf like him.”

“That was a super tough heat for sure,” Florence said. “I made a few mistakes in that heat, which right now is all I can think of. I’ll have to go back and watch it again to see where I went wrong. The waves are super fun and, obviously, Joan (Duru) ripped that last wave really well, but I didn’t see it.  I’ll probably hang out here for a couple of days and then head to Margaret River next week. I’m so stoked to be heading back there this year and hopefully, we get some pumping waves at North Point or something.”

“It definitely feels good to rip off that Round 3 band-aid and progress past Round 3 for the first time this year,” Wilson said. “It’s only really early in the year but two 17th place finishes don’t do much for your confidence, so it was great to get through that heat against a great competitor like Jadson (Andre). We’ve had some awesome matchups over the years. I love this wave. It throws everything at you, so you can just explore what’s possible and maybe surprise yourself with something you’ve never done before. I try my best to treat my heats like a freesurf as there are good waves that break all over the reef, so it pays to stay busy.”

“I was watching a few heats here this morning and noticed it was really slow,“ Toledo said. “I noticed that the surfers that were doing well were the most active surfers, so that’s what I tried to do was to surf waves and build through the heat. When waves came to me I tried to capitalize on it by going big on the face and in the air and finish strong. I was bummed to see Italo (Ferreira) go out. That was stressful to watch but at the same time, it’s a good thing when playing the game. It’s early in the year but right now is when everything starts to build and we need big results.”

“I love Owen (Wright), he’s a great guy,” Slater said.  “We had a fun surf a Winki a couple days after the Bells event. He’s obviously been through a lot of hardship but you kind of have to put all that stuff out of your mind. I went in with the mindset that I have the advantage here. I was able to play the heat right. My board feels stuck to my feet, which is a real confidence booster.”

Kolohe Andino (USA) earned the day’s highest two-wave total with a 14.54 (out of a possible 20) against Ricardo Christie (NZL) in Heat 8. Andino will advance to the Round of 16 where he will face fellow Californian Conner Coffin (USA) in Heat 4.

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.