Most of the action was washed out at the Rio Pro on Wednesday but Aussies Matt Wilkinson and Owen Wright still managed to get through their respective heats and into the third round.
After neither managed to win their round one heats both shone in round two action, albeit Wright, who won at Snapper Rocks to open the season, a little brighter.
Wright looked much more comfortable than he did on the opening day and posted the highest two-wave score of the day with rides of 8.50 and 7.50 to beat Brazilian Bino Lopes.
"The waves are really tricky," Wright said.
"I got an 8.50 on my first wave and I thought it would be easy to get another score, but a few minutes went by and I thought that I would just do a couple turns to get another 5 on the board just in case I was out of position. It ended up being like that for the rest of the heat.
"I am glad to make it through because you know the Brazilians are always going to perform their best on their home ground."
A pair of 5.50 waves were enough for Wilkinson to advance to the third round over Italian Leonardo Fioravanti, while Kolohe Andino made a surprising exit at the hands of local Yago Doro, who produced a stunning 9.10 for the best single wave of the day after landing a 360 degree aerial.
Doro was joined in the third round by fellow Brazilian Gabriel Medina who beat fellow Brazilian Jesse Mendes. Medina also happy to get through the tricky conditions.
"That was a tough one because we had tricky conditions with a good surfer, so it makes it even harder," Medina said.
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