Hawaiian Pro begins with a big win by Morais

Portugal’s Frederico Morais is battling more than just the waves at the Hawaiian Pro in Haleiwa that began Wednesday.

Morais, currently 59th in the ASP World Qualifying Series, needs two good performances here to qualify for next year’s world tour.

He got off to a good start on Wednesday, overcoming Billy Kemper’s 9.70 — the highest single wave score of the day — to score a 9.43 and secure his heat ahead of Kemper.

"I feel good here. Last time I was here I got to the semifinals," the 23-year-old Morais said. "It’s an event I really like. It’s a really powerful right-hand point break and it is pretty perfect."

Morais advanced to the quarterfinals in the previous ASP event in his homeland of Portugal and is looking to ride the wave of momentum to greater results in Hawaii.

"In Portugal I did really good and I got a quarterfinal in world tour surfing event against the best surfers in the world," Morais said. "That gave me a confidence boost for these last two events in Hawaii."

Joel Centeio, the 2009 champion at Haleiwa, got through a close heat which ended with a flurry of action. The opening exchange saw Australia’s Wade Carmichael post two high scores right off the bat before anyone else in the heat scored once. Centeio scored a 7-point ride and the ocean went flat with both of his other two competitors registering small scores. A paddle battle ensued toward the end of the heat between Centeio and one of the younger competitors, Miguel Tudela, which saw Centeio hold his inside position only to see him swan dive off the top of the wave and wipe out.

"We were both paddling back out and on the way back he caught up to me," Centeio said. "It was a pretty good wave and I spun because I was super tired and two his leashes got caught on my nose as I was turning around."

Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia, a six-time Triple Crown winner, competed for the 29th season, tying Derek Ho’s all-time record, and advanced with a 9.37 in his heat.

A total of 13 surfers from Hawaii advanced to the second round.

Organizers expect an 8 a.m. start today with waves similar to Wednesday.