Australian Tyler Wright's world surfing title hopes remain on track after surviving a do-or-die second round heat in California.
Wright holds a slender world championship lead with four events to play and produced a round-high score of 16.77 to defeat Hawaiian Bethany Hamilton by 3.27 points on Thursday (Friday AEST) in swells of 1-2 metres at Lower Trestles.
But the second-round news wasn't so good for Australia's fifth-ranked Sally Fitzgibbons, who crashed out in a narrow loss to Hawaiian Coco Ho.
Fellow-Australian Keely Andrew also won her second-round heat, joining compatriots Laura Enever, Nikki Van Dijk and Stephanie Gilmore who qualified for the third round on Wednesday.
But the big winner of the day was Wright.
After running last in her first round heat, which also included Hamilton, she faced the prospect of an early exit.
She'll now take on Enever and Sage Ericson of the USA, with the winner booking a spot in the competition's quarter finals.
Fellow-title contender Courtney Conlogue also survived her second-round heat, easily accounting for Chelsea Tuach of Barbados to book a battle with Malia Manuel and Van Dijk.
