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Fanning advances to fourth round of Rio Pro

Xinhua, May 13, 2017 Adjust font size:

Triple world champion Mick Fanning recovered from a slow start in his heat on Friday to advance to the fourth round of the Rio Pro World Surfing League event.

The 35-year-old Australian trailed compatriot Connor O'Leary at Itauna beach before posting 6.23 and 7.17 with his last two waves to eclipse his rival's best scores of 6.50 and 5.40.

"At the moment I'm just having fun with it," Fanning said. "I've never had a year where I've just been relaxed, I've always been chasing world titles and so on but it's good to just go out and do my best."

Fellow Australian Joel Parkinson stayed alive in the competition by posting a combined-wave score of 15.43, overcoming France's Jeremy Flores, who registered 11.44.

The 2014 world champion Gabriel Medina was one of three Brazilians to advance to the next stage, beating Australia's Bede Durbidge with a combined-wave score of 14.30 compared to his rival's total of 13.86.

Local heroes Wiggolly Dantas and Adriano de Souza also progressed in the event by defeating Sebastian Zietz and Ian Gouveia respectively. Endit