PLAYA DE PANTIN, Galicia – Spain (Saturday, September 5, 2015) – Chelsea Tuach (BRB) 19, has won the Women’s QS6,000 Pantin Classic Galicia Pro over Leticia Canales Bilbao (EUK) 20, in a low scoring final disputed in the early evening Pantin sun.
Tuach and Canales exchanged the lead over each wave caught for the first half of the 30-minute bout, with a little edge for Tuach who had a slightly higher best score. With only ten minutes on the clock, Tuach solidified her position with a 6.50 to put her opponent in a difficult situation.
Canales quickly followed and found a clean little lefthander of her own, but the wave didn’t stand up enough for the young Basque to perform her signature sharp forehand hacks, and she had to settle for an average score.
Tuach then controlled the rest of the final, sitting with priority to keep her opponent off of the best waves, eventually taking out the final, the first major QS win of the Barbados surfer’s career.
“I’m feeling great right now, it was definitely tough the whole event, the waves have been kind of on and off,” Tuach admitted. “I’ve had a lot of heartbreakers this year and what happened was I would panick and go for bad waves. So I took all of my knowledge from all those bad heats and tried to play a perfect heat, I’m so stoked to end the year on a win, it feels amazing !”
With her result today in Pantin, and the allocated 6,000 ranking points, Tuach has climbed to No.4 on the QS ladder, and taken one step closer to becoming a member of the elite Top17 competing on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy Women’s Championship Tour.
“It’s been my dream for so long and I’ve been working so hard for it,” Tuach added. “It’s definitely a weight off my shoulders. To be competing against the very best surfers in the world next year is so exciting, I’m going to work hard with my coach to get strong and try to come out guns blazzing when the season starts. I’ve had my first taste of the CT at the US Open and it’s a different ball game, you can’t hold anything back and I think that’s what I learnt this year.”
One of the form surfers all-week, and after eliminating Hawaii’s Alessa Quizon and Malia Manuel on her way to the final, Canales Bilbao couldn’t unfortunately maintain her excellent rhythm through the last heat and placed runner-up, a career’s best for the Basque junior.
“I’ll probably be feeling a lot better in a couple of hours, but right now I’m mostly frustrated cause I really wanted to find a good wave and win that final,” an emotional Canales said. “I won really good heats this week and that was a dream come true, but that final was special and I really wanted it. My twin sister surprised me and rode the bus for 10hrs to come see me here and I wish I could have won for her and everyone in my support team.”
The men’s QS1,500 event also ran through three rounds today to decide the quarterfinalists and set the action for an exciting finals day on Sunday.
Ethan Egiguren (EUK) 21, capitalized on the formidable enthusiasm of the Basque crew to win his Round 5 matchup and advance into the quarterfinals, a first in his young career. The San Sebastian local surfed a solid heat to overcome strong competitors including form surfer Thiago Camarao (BRA) 27, and current QS No.8 Joan Duru (FRA) 26.
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I’m super stoked to be in the quarterfinals,” Egiguren stated. “I just tried to be patient and take the bigger waves, I’m feeling really good surfing right now. Everybody is supportive here and it’s great to have them by my side, I’ll go cheer on Leticia now for the final.”
Deivid Silva (BRA) 20, continued his assault in Pantin, scoring an impressive 9.33 on his way to the quarters where he’ll face off with yet another Basque surfer in form this week, Jatyr Berasaluce (EUK).
“The conditions were super hard but I’m stoked I got that really fun wave and I’m very happy to advance into the quarters,” Silva said. “It’s a big event for me, there are a lot of good surfers here and winning heats will definitely help boost my confidence before I go home to compete in Brazil.”
Event officials have called a final 10AM Call on Sunday for the final day of the men’s event in Pantin.
The Pantin Classic Galicia Pro is scheduled from August 26-31, 2014 in Pantin, Spain. For all results, photos, video highlights, press releases and LIVE webcast, log on to worldsurfleague.com.
The Pantin Classic Galicia Pro is supported by Turkish Airlines, Zumosol, Turgalicia, Mahou, Renault, Abanca, Coca Cola, Gadis, Appeiros, Avansing, Coge3 and Arnette among others.
PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO WOMEN’S FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Chelsea Tuach (BRB) 11.50
2 – Leticia Canales Bilbao (EUK) 8.30
PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO WOMEN’S SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Leticia Canales Bilbao (EUK) 11.60 def. Malia Manuel (HAW) 9.73
SF 2: Chelsea Tuach (BRB) 10.33 def. Philippa Anderson (AUS) 7.57
UPCOMING PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS:
QF 1: Ethan Egiguren (EUK) vs. Ruben Gonzalez (PRT)
QF 2: Thiago Camarao (BRA) vs. Vicente Romero (ESP)
QF 3: Deivid Silva (BRA) vs. Jatyr Berasaluce (EUK)
QF 4: Pedro Henrique (PRT) vs. Victor Bernardo (BRA)
PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Ethan Egiguren (EUK) 11.47, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 11.44, Joan Duru (FRA) 10.83, Mateia Hiquily (PYF) 9.70
Heat 2: Vicente Romero (ESP) 12.40, Ruben Gonzalez (PRT) 9.23, Nicholas Squiers (AUS) 8.60, Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 7.96
Heat 3: Deivid Silva (BRA) 14.06, Pedro Henrique (PRT) 12.17, Marlon Lipke (PRT) 7.54, Dean Bowen (AUS) 6.26
Heat 4: Victor Bernardo (BRA) 10.90, Jatyr Berasaluce (EUK) 10.80, Bino Lopes (BRA) 9.17, Dimitri Ouvre (BLM) 7.43
PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Ethan Egiguren (EUK) 12.60, Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 9.93, Medi Veminardi (REU) 7.63, Harrison Mann (AUS) 6.26
Heat 2: Mateia Hiquily (PYF)11.53, Vicente Romero (ESP) 11.34, Mihimana Braye (PYF) 10.60, Joao Kopke (PRT) 8.20
Heat 3: Nicholas Squiers (AUS) 12.60, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 11.17, Anthony Fillingim (CRI) 8.53, Eduardo Fernandes (PRT) 8.07
Heat 4: Ruben Gonzalez (PRT) 13.06, Joan Duru (FRA) 12.63, Caina Barletta (BRA) 10.40, Andy Criere (FRA) 9.36
Heat 5: Dean Bowen (AUS) 14.46, Dimitri Ouvre (BLM) 13.10, Thiago Guimaraes (BRA) 11.57, Tristan Guilbaud (FRA) 6.90
Heat 6: Pedro Henrique (PRT) 14.60, Jatyr Berasaluce (EUK) 10.54, Eneko Acero (EUK) 8.97, Paul Cesar Distinguin (FRA) 8.63
Heat 7: Bino Lopes (BRA) 13.50, Marlon Lipke (PRT) 12.37, Robson Santos (BRA) 12.00, Kalani Ball (AUS) 8.83
Heat 8: Victor Bernardo (BRA) 14.30, Deivid Silva (BRA) 13.80, Jorgann Couzinet (REU) 12.03, Keoni Yan (HAW) 10.10
PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S ROUND OF 64 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Thiago Guimaraes (BRA) 13.84, Eneko Acero (EUK) 11.70, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 10.80, Guy Sato (JPN) 9.66
Heat 10: Dimitri Ouvre (BLM) 10.20, Paul Cesar Distinguin (FRA) 9.40, Lliam Mortensen (AUS) 9.33, Aldric God (FRA) 6.90
Heat 11: Pedro Henrique (PRT) 15.93, Dean Bowen (AUS) 11.33, Mitchell James (AUS) 10.47, Nic Hdez (USA) 7.27
Heat 12: Jatyr Berasaluce (EUK) 12.77, Tristan Guilbaud (FRA) 10.00, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 9.27, Miguel Blanco (PRT) 8.57
Heat 13: Bino Lopes (BRA) 10.60, Jorgann Couzinet (REU) 10.03, Timothee Bisso (GLP) 8.47, Luis Perloiro (PRT) 7.73
Heat 14: Robson Santos (BRA) 12.13, Keoni Yan (HAW) 9.07, David Van Zyl (ZAF) 8.10, Riley Laing (AUS) 5.23
Heat 15: Victor Bernardo (BRA) 14.83, Marlon Lipke (PRT) 12.86, Reo Inaba (JPN) 7.00, Facundo Arreyes (ARG) 6.77
Heat 16: Deivid Silva (BRA) 12.00, Kalani Ball (AUS) 10.10, O’Neill Massin (PYF) 4.70, Raphael Seixas (BRA) 3.87
