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Hawaii’s Ezekiel Lau and Bettylou Sakura Johnson both advanced through their quarterfinal matchups on Saturday at the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Lau narrowly defeated Australia’s Liam O’Brien 12.17 to 12.10. Scores of 5.17 and 7.00 on his second and third waves gave Lau an early edge in the matchup. After neither surfer did much with the next few waves, O’Brien put up his best ride of the day, but his score of 6.77 came up just shy of matching Lau’s total. Lau will face American Eithan Osborne in the semifinals.
Johnson defeated Australia’s Bronte Macaulay 13.33 to 12.50. After Macaulay got an early lead after a 7.33 on her first wave, Johnson took back control of the matchup with a 9.00 score on her fourth wave. Macaulay was unable to put together another strong run to overcome Johnson’s lead. Johnson will face Australia’s Sophie McCulloch in the semifinals.
The event is scheduled to resume today at 6:30 a.m.
