Small waves. Big performances.

With not much faith in upcoming swell conditions, Reef Hawaiian Pro officials decided to run Day 3 of the contest in 1- to 3-foot waves at Alii Beach Park in Haleiwa on Saturday.

The conditions were not ideal for Hawaii’s John John Florence, and he was eliminated in the round of 64 in the first contest of this year’s Triple Crown of Surfing. For Florence, it will be an uphill climb to earn back the Triple Crown he won in 2011.

Kauai’s Sebastian Zietz, the reigning Triple Crown champion, ripped the waves apart with speed, power and flow in his heat to advance to the round of 32.

"I came over last night, jumped on some brand new boards and luckily they felt good," Zietz said. "I was on Kauai watching the past couple of days (on TV), seeing how good it was and I show up and it’s 1 foot. You know that’s our job and you have to be good in all conditions."

Dane Reynolds won one of the most anticipated heats of the day against ASP World Tour ratings leader Mick Fanning of Australia, Maxime Huscenot and Conner Coffin.

Reynolds was fast and whippy in the small surf, riding a board that he shaped himself. Fanning also advanced by placing second in the heat.

Australia’s Josh Kerr won the last heat of the day in the dying minutes.

"It was really slow out there," Kerr said. "I feel like the last few years I have heats like that and have not made them, so it’s nice to actually get on the other side of one of those small Haleiwa heats."

Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam continued his roll with the highest combined heat total of the day, an 18.26.

Other top surfers advancing were Nat Young, Fred Patacchia, Jeremy Flores, Filipe Toledo, Evan Valiere, Miguel Pupo and Michel Bourez.