Crisanto Hits the Roof
Sunday 1 July 2018 Pristine, long period lines presided at Willard Beach as Peterson Crisanto (BRA) became the 50th winner of the Ballito Pro presented by Billabong in front of a packed beach yesterday.
OLD AND NEW: Shaun Tomson hangs out with Peterson Crisanto in Ballito. Photo WSL / Cestari
The Brazilian beat powerful Australian Jack Freestone in the first WSL QS10,000 event of the year to claim his biggest career win. After a lull for the first eight minutes, Crisanto barely put a foot wrong in the 35 minute final, starting with a 5.50 and following up with an 8.73 for a lead he did not relinquish.
“This is the biggest win of my career so far and it comes after a lot of hard work and hard times," said Crisanto. "For the last two years, after I lost my main sponsor, I just competed in Brazil to earn money to travel. But now I’m so happy to be back, competing against the best surfers in the world. And to win the 50th edition of the event – it is so special.”
Crisanto came into Ballito ranked #42 on the QS leaderboard. With the mammoth 10,000 points for the win, he now soars to #1. His route to the final included wins over Seth Moniz (HAW) in the semifinals and fellow Brazilian Thiago Camarao in the quarterfinals. He eliminated former CT surfer Nat Young (USA) in Round 5.
THROUGH THE ROOF: Crisanto shoots 41 spots into the top slot on the QS. Photo WSL / Cestari
Freestone was elated to get his 2018 campaign going with an 8,000 point haul that catapults him an incredible 153 places to #5: “My start to the year was pretty bad and I could barely make it out of a heat in the QS3,000 and QS6,000 events. But Ballito is usually where the year starts and I’m so happy to kick off the Prime campaign with a 2nd. It means so much to me, especially here in Ballito where I’ve never done better than 5th. To be 5th in the world, I’ll take that and know I’m back.”
The best local performer Matt McGillivray - the only South African to reach the third round where he was ousted for equal 37th - still earns the wildcard into the Corona Open J-Bay as the top ranked WSL Africa surfer. He drops from the top 10 to 17th since winning the first event of the year in Israel. The sixth stop on the CT (which starts tomorrow and runs until 12 July) will be at McGillivray’s home break of Supertubes.
WINNING LOSER: Freestone banks 8,000 points and moves 153 places to #5. Photo WSL / Cestari
Freestone narrowly outpointed Ricardo Christie (NZL) in their quarterfinal clash and a win over compatriot Wade Carmichael (#14 on the CT) got him into the final. The day started with the quarterfinals and Carmichael employed his power surfing repertoire to dispatch young Californian Griffin Colapinto before Freestone got the better of Christie.
Moniz then upset the form book by eliminating red hot Brazilian Krystian Kymerson - he was responsible for some of the biggest airs ever seen in Ballito, and the only perfect 10 point ride of the event - before Crisanto defeated Camarao in the fourth quarterfinal.
Full results and more content at www.worldsurfleague.com
ROCKET MAN: Krystian Kymerson boosted like he was bound for space. Photo WSL / Cestari
FINAL
1 - Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 16.93 points
2 - Jack Freestone (AUS) 14.13
SEMIFINAL
1: Jack Freestone (AUS) 12.03 def. Wade Carmichael (AUS) 10.10
2: Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 16.43 def. Seth Moniz (HAW) 14.60
QUARTERFINAL
1: Wade Carmichael (AUS) 16.90 def. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 11.84
2: Jack Freestone (AUS) 13.34 def. Ricardo Christie (NZL) 12.80
3: Seth Moniz (HAW) 13.60 def. Krystian Kymerson (BRA) 11.24
4: Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 13.36 def. Thiago Camarao (BRA) 12.20
QS RANKINGS
1 Peterson Crisanto, BRA 13720
2 Seth Moniz, HAW 12950
3 Mikey Wright, AUS 12205
4 Alejo Muniz, BRA 10980
5 Jack Freestone, AUS 9720
South Africans: (Top 50)
17 Matt McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay 7300
36 Beyrick De Vries (uMhlanga) 5380
44 Adin Masencamp (Strand) 4750