Tyler Wright's wait for a first world title must continue after nearest rival Courtney Conlogue survived round two elimination against Chelsea Tuach at the World Surf League event in France.
Tuach, from Barbados, got off to a quick start to put points on the board, but Conlogue charged through the heat with powerful manoeuvres to earn an excellent 8.07 and a stunning 7.83 for the win.
Wright, who will become world champion if she wins in France, is back in action on Saturday in her third round heat with America's Sage Erickson and fellow Aussie Laura Enever who beat Queensland's Keely Andrews.
Conlogue will line up against Australian duo Sally Fitzgibbons and Nikki Van Dijk.
Fitzgibbons fired with an excellent 8.33 in her victory over Californian Lakey Peterson to record the highest two-wave heat total of the day.
Peterson opened her account with an authoritative 7.00 and backed that up with another commanding 7.27 for an early lead.
But Fitzgibbons battled back with a near-perfect 9.33 to escape the combination, but still required a 4.94 to overtake Peterson.
With five minutes left on the clock, Fitzgibbons fired with an excellent 8.33 to grab the victory.
In the men's event, Australia's Matt Wilkinson, who sits in third spot on the world leaderboard, progressed to round three at the expense of local wildcard Joan Duru.
Ryan Callinan put a dent in Jordy Smith's title campaign by eliminating the world No. 4.
The Aussie rookie took a page out of Wilkinson's book, ripping backside and clinching the winning 6.93 ride with a smooth three-turn combo.
Italian wild card Leonardo Fioravanti continued to wreak havoc on the championship tour, taking down 11-time champion Kelly Slater for the second time this year.
The Italian surfed his way to a solid 13.26 heat total while Slater had a hard time linking manoeuvres.
