It was a rough day for Hawaii surfers Friday at Haleiwa.

Only two local surfers moved on to the finals, with defending champion Dusty Payne of Maui and Oahu’s Ezekiel Lau staying alive at the Hawaiian Pro.

A declining swell saw clean, yet inconsistent, waves for much of the day, and the smaller surf played into the hands of the international touring professionals who are used to competing in the lesser conditions.

The heat of the day featured Gabriel Medina of Brazil and Australian up-and-comer Connor O’Leary, plus Australians Thomas Woods and Soli Bailey.

Medina, the defending world champion, pulled multiple, huge 360-air moves and looked unstoppable while O’Leary stuck to the face of the waves.

The underdog’s first solid score came when he took a solid right on his backhand that featured four solid turns with power and precision for a 9.57 out of 10. His second saw him go left and throw a number of critical turns for an 8-point ride for the highest-combined heat total of the event (18.24 out of 20) and the win. Medina also advanced with his second-place finish.

"It was a little shaky at the start," O’Leary said. "I kind of couldn’t really find my feet, (but) I was lucky that right came through and kind of felt my feet again."

For O’Leary, who is ranked ninth on the qualifying series tour with the top 10 making it onto next year’s world tour, this event’s points are incredibly important.

"I am definitely not in yet; there is a lot of talk about what the cutoff point is for the end of the year," O’Leary said. "I don’t think anybody really knows until it happens, so I am just going to try and go heat-by-heat and hopefully make a few more here."

Payne survived a close heat that featured world No. 2 Filipe Toledo. Toledo, known for his small wave prowess, went on a rampage, tearing into the lefts and launching on the rights. He took an early lead and never looked back. Payne beat Australian Brent Dorrington and Deivid Silva of Brazil for second place.

"The conditions were challenging I am just happy to make it though," Payne said.

Lau survived a tight heat and hit the beach with California’s Nathan Yeomans only needing a 4.80 to pass him and advance. Lau was visibly stoked when he saw Yeomans come up short with a 4.47 to allow him to continue carrying the Hawaii flag through the contest.