Mick Fanning's hopes of winning a third ASP world surfing title got a massive boost when Kelly Slater was eliminated from the Rip Curl Pro at Supertubos in Portugal.
The 11-time world champion Slater capped a forgettable tour stop with a 12.34 to 10.13 second-round loss on Monday to rising Portuguese talent Frederico Morais in one-metre waves.
The American's shock defeat came five days after Fanning's fellow Australian, 16-year-old Jacob Willcox, beat Slater in the opening round to relegate the surfing legend into an elimination second round.
Fanning, who currently leads the championship standings by 6000 points over Slater, breezed through round two thanks to a 13.00 to 8.93 victory over Portugal's wildcard Francisco Alves.
That result means 2007 and 2009 world champion Fanning will sew up another world crown at the tour's penultimate event in Portugal if he qualifies for the semi-finals, which will give him an unassailable lead over Slater and the chasing field.
South Africa's Jordy Smith and Australian pair Taj Burrow and Joel Parkinson - the defending world champion - are next best in the overall standings and will likely need to win the final in Portugal to keep the title fight alive.
Fanning demonstrated speed and power in challenging conditions to advance into the third round.
"It's been a long week of getting up early every morning," Fanning said.
"This morning, conditions felt alright and once we got out there it felt a little bit weaker with that tide coming in.
"I'm just stoked to get the heat done and start moving.
"When you get the wildcard, people always want to see the underdog win, especially in Portugal where the fans are just fanatical, but it's really cool to see. Francisco surfs really well."
Slater says Fanning has clearly been the best performer all year, and despite the chance of the Australian wrapping up world crown in Portugal, he is looking to the final event of the season in Hawaii.
"I'm expecting now that I'll probably need to win or at least make the final in Hawaii for a shot at it," Slater said.
"We got almost two months now, I'm going to go do some rehab, get my body back together and try to get my mind back in it.
"If this week works out, great. If not, well Mick (Fanning) has been the great performer of the year.
"Obviously his results have been great at every event - it's hard to beat a guy like that."
The 10th and last event of the tour is the iconic Billabong Pipe Masters in Hawaii from December 8-20.
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