ASP / KIRSTIN
Coco Ho surfed her way into the semifinals of the Billabong Rio Pro on Saturday.
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Hawaii surfers dominated Day 4 of the Billabong Rio Pro in Brazil on Saturday, with three of them advancing to the semifinals.
Defending women’s world tour champion Carissa Moore of Honolulu, Coco Ho of Sunset Beach and wild-card entrant Alessa Quizon of Waianae make up three-fourths of the semifinalists. Waves were small (1 to 2 feet) at Barra da Tijuca.
Ho defeated current world No. 1 Stephanie Gilmore of Australia twice, the first time in the three-woman Round 3 heat and the second time in the quarterfinals, where Ho won 14.93-7.23.
Moore also won her third-round heat and then outsurfed Laura Enever of Australia 8.43-8.33 in the quarters.
Quizon took second in her third-round heat before topping Lakey Peterson of California in the fourth round and Courtney Conlogue of California in the quarterfinals 12.77-12.50.
Malia Manuel of Kauai took third in her third-round heat and then fell to Enever in the fourth round.
The contest is expected to wrap up today. Quizon faces Ho in the first semifinal, followed by Moore against Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia.