Perfect 10 Lima to meet Gilmore again

The World Surf League is barely underway but Stephanie Gilmore and Brazil's Silvana Lima are set for a third clash of the year in the Roxy Pro quarter-finals.

Australian surfing world champion Stephanie Gilmore

Stephanie Gilmore sneaked into the quarter-finals of the world surf league opener on the Gold Coast. (AAP)

Four heats into the World Surf League season and you could forgive Stephanie Gilmore and Silvana Lima for already being sick of the sight of each other.

Defending world champion Gilmore and Brazilian pocket rocket Lima will meet in the quarter-finals of the season-opening Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast, incredibly the third time the pair will battle it out already this tournament.

So far the ledger stands at one-all, with Lima toppling Gilmore in Saturday's opening round before the 27-year-old Australian hit back on Thursday with victory in a third-round heat.

That win didn't come easily for Gilmore, who just like in her second round elimination heat on Tuesday, had to pull out a last gasp 9.00 ride to pip Lima for a quarter-final berth.

That last minute wave gave Gilmore a two-wave score of 15.83, beating Lima by just 0.43.

Lima, the 30-year-old tour veteran who is on the comeback trail from a knee injury, didn't take long to bounce back.

Just over an hour later she wowed the crowd at Snapper Rocks, scoring a perfect 10 in a thrilling fourth-round match-up against Sally Fitzgibbons.

The Australian had herself opened with a 9.63 in the heat and the pair traded scores in the dying seconds before Lima finished with a combined 17.73 out of 20 to beat Fitzgibbons' 16.96.

For Gilmore the result was hardly what she would have been hoping for.

"It's hard. Silvana would be like, 'man, I have to beat this girl again' and for me Silvana is such a fierce rival of mine," Gilmore said.

"It's always pretty difficult to beat her. It's not exactly someone you want to come up against in a quarter-final but we'll see what happens."

Lima, whose powerful aerials and low centre of gravity appear to be working to her advantage in the small Snapper swell, doesn't seem fazed by matching again with the six-time world champion.

"I think it's okay," Lima said.

"She's always doing the best, always looking for the world title all the time.

"I love getting Steph all the time. She's always pushing me up ... it takes it to another level when we surf together."

Following an action-packed day at Snapper Rocks, only one other Australian remains standing in the women's draw, two-time championship runner-up Tyler Wright.

The Lennox Heads product overcame American pair Courtney Conlogue and Coco Ho in her third round to move straight into the quarter-finals where she'll take on Conlogue again after she eliminated young Victorian Nikki Van Dijk in the fourth round.

There was heartbreak too for Sunshine Coast product Dimiti Stoyle, who came out of the water leading American Tatiana Weston-Webb only for a late score to push her 0.10 behind her rival and out of the competition.

Weston-Webb will now meet compatriot Malia Manuel in the quarters while two-time world champion Carissa Moore is up against another American in Lakey Peterson in the final last eight match-up.


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Source: AAP


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