Australian surfer Julian Wilson's world title hopes have suffered a serious blow after being knocked out in the second round of the Tahiti Pro.
The event's defending champion was upset by local wildcard Tikanui Smith 7.67 to 5.83 after failing to register a second-wave score in lacklustre surf at Teahupo'o.
Earlier, retiring Australian world champion Joel Parkinson upstaged Wilson in their round-one heat, scoring 6.03 on his final wave to win 11.63 to 10.67.
"That's the first time I've been barrelled in a while," a relaxed Parkinson said, as he took advantage of the tube-riding conditions to outscore Wilson and Mateia Hiquily.
With four events remaining on the WSL calendar after Tahiti, Wilson is second in the world championship standings on 31,960 points - almost 4,000 points adrift of Filipe Toledo.
The Brazilian can forge further ahead after comfortably progressing to the third round with the highest score of round one (15.50).
"It feels good to finally get the rhythm over here," Toledo said after his heat.
Wilson battled through a shoulder injury to win on the Gold Coast earlier this year and fuelled his title credentials with finishes of third, second and fifth.
But the 29-year-old was walking a tightrope after 13th-place finishes at Bells Beach and Bali - only able to discard his two lowest results across the 11-round season.
His 25th-place Tahiti result means at least one of those 13th-place finishes must be counted in the nine that make up his final tally at season's end.
Wilson got off to a decent start in the elimination round, with 5.83 narrowly putting him ahead of Smith's 5.50 effort.
As the clock wound down, Smith recorded 2.17 on his second wave to turn up the heat on Wilson with five minutes remaining.
The Queenslander patiently waited for the right wave to arrive but it never did.
He conceded defeat with about 10 seconds remaining, congratulating the Tahitian underdog with a handshake.
Australians Wade Carmichael, Adrian Buchan and Connor O'Leary all progressed directly to the third round along with Parkinson.
Mikey Wright, Matt Wilkinson and Owen Wright face round two elimination heats.
The next call on when the competition resumes is at 3am on Tuesday.
