Kelly Slater has thrown down the gauntlet to title favourite Mick Fanning by booking himself a spot in the quarter-finals of the season-ending Pipe Masters in Hawaii.
Slater, who needs to win the event to overtake championship leader Fanning and clinch his 12th world surfing crown, topped his round-four heat on Tuesday to earn a direct spot in the last eight.
His 17.56 bettered local Sebastian Zietz's 14.50 and Brazilian Miguel Pupo's 11.17.
But the path to a third title is now a little longer for Fanning.
The Australian finished last in his match-up and will have to battle it out in a round five sudden-death heat for a quarter-final berth.
The two-time champion failed to post a solid score in his round four heat, with Hawaii's John John Florence (16.37) and American Nat Young (14.00) both outperforming Fanning's 11.51.
If Slater wins the event, Fanning needs to reach the semi-finals to be guaranteed the 2013 trophy.
But first he'll have to overcome American CJ Hobgood - and that has Slater smiling.
"I guess it makes a little bit more work for him to make it to the semis," Slater said.
"It's good for me because he has to dive a couple of grenades.
"But he could also look at it as he gets to surf Pipe by himself one more time."
Earlier, Fanning dominated his opening heat against local Kaimana Jaquias in pumping two metre surf, outscoring him 15.63 to 6.27.
Slater was also a force to be reckoned with in his heat - posting a 17.66 to Australia's Mitch Crews' 3.30.
