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COOLANGATTA,
Australia (Tuesday, Mar. 6, 2007) – Despite their epic early-round appearances,
wildcards Jake Paterson (AUS) and Julian Wilson (AUS) were no match for top-rated
Foster’s ASP World Tour surfers Kelly Slater (USA) and Mick Fanning (AUS)in
Round 3 of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by Samsung today. 
Slater,
a rare Round 2 entity, was relegated to the early elimination round by Wilson
on Day One of the Quiksilver Pro. Posting a near-perfect 19.87 out of 20.00 in
clean four foot (1.2 metre) conditions at Snapper Rocks today, the eight-time
Foster’s ASP World Champ left Wilson defenseless. 
“Losses
can be really good because they tend to get you a little more focused and if you
use them right they will improve what you’re doing,” Slater said. “It’s
a balance. Take a loss, figure out what you did wrong, where your head was at,
whatever else was getting in the way and then sort it out and get back out there.
Today was the best heat I’ve had in a couple of years.” 
Slater
earned the first perfect 10.00 ride of the 2007 Foster’s ASP World Tour season
by performing nearly every radical maneuver known to man midway through his heat.
Drawing on deep tube rides, full-rail carves and innovative aerials, the reigning
world champ pulled everything out of his bag of tricks to amass the flawless score. 
Paterson
meanwhile, was responsible for eliminating former three-time Foster’s ASP
World Champion Andy Irons (HAW) in Round 2, but was no match for Fanning in what
might be the final Foster’s ASP World Tour heat for Paterson’s illustrious
career. Fanning, who won the Quiksilver Pro in 2005, posted an 18.07 to Paterson’s
12.93. 
“Yeah
it all went good, just watching Kelly the heat before, he went mad and I was just
pretty excited to get out there,” Fanning said. “This is probably the
best I’ve seen Snapper for the contest. I surf it all the time and usually
there’re a thousand people in the way and you can’t really do a turn.” 
Fanning
and friends chaired the now-retired Paterson out of the ocean after their heat. “Just
to surf out there with Jake in his last event, after the tens of years he’s
been on tour, it was pretty special for me,” Fanning said. “Ever since
I’ve been on tour he’s been there to help me out. I’m just stoked
I got to share that last heat with him.” 
Top seeded surfers Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Taj Burrow (AUS) also advanced,
though both surfers were forced to dig deep to find the form they needed to move
to Round 4.
Parkinson overcame Brazilian rookie Leonardo Neves
in the first heat of the day, but the 2002 Quiksilver Pro champion was admittedly
rattled afterward. 
“Leonardo (Neves) is going to be a really fierce competitor this year,”
Parkinson said. “I really think that he will do some damage; drawing him
won’t be a walk in the park at all. He had me on the ropes there for a while.
I just had to have faith that the waves would come. I don’t look forward
to the next match – he’s pretty good.”
Burrow
barely scraped through his heat against injury alternate Trent Munro (AUS). Needing
a solid score with time ticking down, Burrow pulled out all the stops on his final
wave to net a 7.50 out of a possible 10. 
"I
still feel a little uneasy, like I didn’t make it because it was so close,”
Burrow said. “I’m stoked! I just tried to concentrate on that last wave
and get the 7.50 and only just scraped it in, so I’m really stoked. But definitely
a stressful one.” 
First-year
Foster’s ASP World Tour member Kai Otton (AUS) claimed a major scalp in last
year’s Rookie of the Year Bobby Martinez (USA). 
"I
was trying to have some fun and I didn’t know what to expect,” Otton
said. “I was even a little confused out there with the priority and didn’t
know where to sit at the end, but I’m just rolling with it and hopefully
keep rolling. Bobby is an amazing surfer, I got lucky, hopefully I can keep it
rolling.” 
Other
rookies advancing today were Josh Kerr (AUS) and Ben Dunn (AUS). Kerr, who is
often considered a purely aerial surfer, showed he has some big turns in his repertoire
as well, eliminating last year’s ASP World No. 8 Tom Whitaker today. 
"It’s
a great confidence booster,” Kerr said. “First contest of the year and
to be able to beat one of the top 10 already, at my home break, in front of my
home crowd… it’s really good. I’m going to try and make the final
first and then to try and win the event. It’s been my dream since the contest
came to town when I was growing up. I’m just excited to give it a good shot.” 
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