In Mick Fanning’s words, the wave did all the work.

The world’s top-ranked surfer from Australia captured the Vans World Cup of Surfing on Thursday at Sunset Beach with a long and hollow tube ride at the midpoint of the final.

“It all just sort of came together,” Fanning said. “It was one of those dream waves. I just stood there. The wave did it all around me.”

That wave, in which he reemerged from behind the curtain with some spit, scored a 9.87 and separated him from the other three surfers in the 35-minute final — fellow Australians Julian Wilson and Matt Wilkinson and Hawaii’s John John Florence.

Fanning’s performance in the 10- to 15-foot waves is yet another confidence builder as he tries to nail down a fourth world championship at the upcoming Billabong Pipe Masters, the final World Surf League event of the year. Five others, including Wilson and defending world champion Gabriel Medina of Brazil, are still in the chase. The other three are Brazil’s Filipe Toledo and Adriano de Souza and Australia’s Owen Wright.

“This (the World Cup) was supposed to be just a warmup event (for the world-title showdown),” said Fanning, who, despite his impressive resume, had never won an event in Hawaii’s waters before. “It’s truly an honor to win here in Hawaii. I had been so close before, but never got the cookies.”

Wilson got off to a fast start in the final, powering down the line with precision carves for a 9.47. But he couldn’t get a decent second big score. Fanning’s first scoring wave that included a big snap off the top netted a 5.33, and he finished with a two-wave 15.20. Wilson finished second with a 12.57, followed by Florence (12.00) and Wilkinson (10.20).

Florence said he just couldn’t find the waves he was looking for in the vast takeoff area and shifting peaks.

“Mick and Julian were getting some good ones,” said Florence, who showed his trademark, world-class slashing ability and power surfing earlier in the day, zinging through the fourth round, the quarterfinals and the semis. I knew I was going to have to be lucky to get a good one (in the final). A lot of waves were washing through and we were getting pounded out there and it was tiring by the end of the day.”

Fanning, who pocketed $40,000 for the win, called trying to get into position a “duck-dive fest” and said he almost got washed in.

Medina, 21, also showed his dynamic skill all day until hitting the skids in the semis. Like Fanning and Wilson, he is eagerly awaiting Pipeline (Dec. 8-20), which wraps up not only the WSL tour season but also the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

By winning the World Cup, Fanning also moved into fourth place in the Triple Crown standings behind Australia’s Wade Carmichael (the winner of the first leg, the Hawaiian Pro), Medina and Hawaii’s Dusty Payne. Wilson is the defending champ of the Triple Crown title, which goes to the best surfer in the three season-ending Hawaii events combined.

Florence, 23, does not have a favorite among the six going for the world crown.

“Its going to be cool to watch with so many guys still in it at the end,” he said.

Joel Parkinson, the 2012 world champ and an Aussie who was eliminated in Thursday’s quarterfinals, said, “There are a lot of dangerous surfers out there, but Mick’s my boy.”

Fanning was the man Thursday.