The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is all but over in Hawaii. While the men's event drew to a climatic finale with Kelly Slater winning an unprecedented sixth Pipeline Masters title last week the women's Billabong Pro Maui champion still remains undecided.
East Londoner Roseanne Hodge is through to the quarter-finals in Maui and will be aiming to go one better than her semi-final finish last year.
Hodge is matched with seven times ASP world champion Layne Beachley who still remains in contention for the Triple Crown of Surfing title.
The showdown between Beachley and Hodge will have historical importance as the Billabong Pro Maui is Beachley's swan song after 19 years on the ASP World Tour.
Beachley will have many fond memories of winging at Maui and would like nothing more than bowing out from the tour with a win at Honolua Bay, Maui.
Hodge on the other hand would love nothing more than beating the greatest female surfer of all time at one of her favourite breaks.
Having already qualified for the 2009 ASP Dream Tour Hodge will not be under the pressure she endured last year and can surf with complete abandon at the picturesque Hawaiian point break.
The second quarter final features the newly crowned ASP world champion Australian Stephanie Gilmore who recently won the second jewel in the Triple Crown, the Roxy Pro at Sunset Beach. Gilmore is paired with compatriot Rebecca Woods.
Another exciting match-up in the quarter finals will be that of Hawaiians Carissa Moore and Melanie Bartels. Moore recently signed a multi million Rand deal with Nike, Red Bull and Target (an American retail chain store); 'the 16 year-old will likely be enjoying one of the most lucrative contracts in female surfing history (estimated to be in the range of R8 million per year),' reports the US-based Surfing Magazine.
The teenage sensation surfed away with the first event in the Triple Crown, the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa last month which saw Beachley finishing runner-up to the youngest ever winner of a Triple Crown event.
Hawaiian stalwart Megan Abubo takes on a fiery Brazilian Silvana Lima in the remaining quarter final. After losing narrowly to Gilmore at the Roxy Pro (and ultimately the world title) Lima will be on a mission to show the world just how talented she is.
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