Fanning gets in position for Pipeline Masters

Australia’s Mick Fanning earned his third victory of the year by beating Jordy Smith of South Africa in the final of the Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal on Monday.

Fanning beat Smith 15.50-7.60 in clean 3- to 5-foot barrels. He beat Alejo Muniz, Filipe Toledo and Kai Otton in five heats to reach the final.

Smith beat Hawaii’s John John Florence 16.64-7.27 in the semifinals. Florence beat Adam Melling to get that far. Fellow Hawaii surfers Fred Patacchia and Sebastian Zietz fell in the third round.

Fanning passed Kelly Slater in the WCT rankings with the win, putting him at No. 2 behind Brazil’s Gabriel Medina going into the Billabong Pipeline Masters in Hawaii on Dec. 8-20.

Medina can win the season title with a finish of first or second place in Hawaii, while Fanning needs to win and have Medina come in third or lower. Slater has to win the Billabong Pipeline Masters and hope Medina and Fanning take 13th or worse.