Whangamata surfer Ella Williams finishes third at the Roxy Open QS1000, held at Fistral Beach, Cornwall, UK, at the weekend, showing blazing form all the way into her semi-final exit.
While it was a mixed bag of results for previous winners at Fistral, our own Ella Williams could do no wrong as she stromed into her semi-final match-up with Yolanda Hopkins, of Portugal. Williams led the semi-final securing a 7-point ride in the early stages before Hopkins answered her attack, responding with a 6.33 and then a 7 to replace her own 5.83 and take the lead. That result gave Hopkins the edge in her toughest match-up of the event, delivering her to a final berth with Germany’s Rachel Presti.
In the final, Presti struggled to find a ride to crack the 4.5 mark while Hopkins went five times into the 5 territory to take the well-deserved win and 1000 points on offer.
Williams also competed in the third stop of the Women’s Longboard Tour, held at the same venue, bowing out in the early rounds to concentrate on chasing the valuable QS points she desperately needs.
“Loved mixing it up even in the longboards, too!” she smiled afterwards. “Keeping it fun while I’m on the road and trying new things.”
“Loved mixing it up even in the longboards, too! Keeping it fun while I’m on the road and trying new things.”
“Third place for me here at the 2019 Boardmasters (Roxy Open),” she added. “Love coming back to this special place and being around the great atmosphere and beauty it has to offer. Thank you all for the support.”
This third place nets Williams 560 points and elevates her to 41st on the Word Qualifying Series rankings with 4527 points. She will need to crack the top 15 to have a chance to qualify for the Women’s Championship Tour, with five of the top 11 spots occupied by currently re-qualifying CT surfers.
Williams’ next event is the Caraibos Lacanau Pro QS1500, held in France, which started on August 13 and runs until August 18 (Monday NZST).
Paige Hareb, is currently ranked 27th on the WQS with a total of 6000 points and 16th on the WCT with 12,530 points. She needs to make the top 10 to re-qualify through the CT alone.
The tail end of the season tends to suit the Kiwi surfers as the waves grow in scale as they head towards Hawaii.
