Before Sunday, Portugal’s Frederico Morais had modest success in World Surf League contests in Hawaii.

Now, he’s a winner on the famed North Shore. Morais wrapped up a victory in the Hawaiian Pro on Sunday, topping Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti, South Africa’s Matthew McGillivray and Australia’s Ethan Ewing in a four-man final at Haleiwa’s Alii Beach.

With the victory in the first event of the 37th annual Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, Morais takes the early lead in that season-ending series. More importantly for Morais’ career, the win secured a spot in the 2020 WSL championship tour, where he was in 2017 and ’18 but not in ’19.

“It’s so good to be back in Hawaii,” said Morais, who was the Vans Triple Crown rookie award winner in 2013 and had second-place finishes in the first two Triple Crown events in 2016 but missed out on the Triple Crown championship to Haleiwa’s John John Florence. “Coming back this year has been an amazing journey. That would be a dream (winning the Triple Crown). Everyone is looking good. There are some really tough opponents, so I’m just going to keep surfing and enjoying myself.”

The second event in the Triple Crown — the Vans World Cup of Surfing — is likely to start today at Sunset Beach. The latest swell is expected to hold with good wind conditions. The holding period for the World Cup, which doubles as the final WSL qualifying series event — runs through Dec. 7.

Morais scored a 6.00 and a 6.77 for his two best waves in the final, finishing with the winning 12.77. Fiovaranti had the best wave of the final, a 7.67, but finished second with 11.50 followed by McGillivray (10.33) and Ewing (9.67).

Fiovaranti held the lead until Morais’ late 6.77 put him in the lead for good. Fioravanti could not find a backup score to better his 3.83.

To get to the final, McGillivray upended two-time Hawaiian Pro winner Michel Bourez of Tahiti and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater in a semifinal heat.

Haleiwa’s Barron Mamiya, who had been on fire to get to the final day, was eliminated in the quarterfinals Sunday. Morais and Slater advanced out of that four-man heat. With another strong result at Sunset, Mamiya could qualify for the 2020 championship tour.

The World Cup, aside from the middle Triple Crown contest, is the final qualifying series event of 2019. The top 10 from the QS get spots on next year’s CT.

When the final event of the WSL CT and Triple Crown rolls around to its conclusion at Pipeline, a world champion and a Triple Crown titleist will be crowned. Five surfers are still in the world title chase — No. 1 Italo Ferreira, No. 2 Gabriel Medina and No. 4 Filipe Toledo of Brazil, No. 3 Jordy Smith of South Africa, and No. 5 Kolohe Andino of San Clemente, Calif.

The WSL confirmed that Florence, a three-time Triple Crown winner and a two-time world champ, requested entry into the Vans World Cup and is seeded into the Round of 96.

Due to injury, Florence is not a world title contender this year, but he is working on becoming one of two U.S. qualifiers for the inaugural Olympics surfing competition in Tokyo in 2020. He and Andino are in position to qualify, but others, including Slater, have a chance. The spots will go to the first two American qualifiers in the final 2019 WSL CT rankings.

Moore in middle of world title showdown

Hawaii’s Carissa Moore can wrap up a fourth WSL women’s world championship in the Lululemon Maui Pro, the final event of the women’s CT, which starts today and runs through Dec. 6 at Honolua Bay.

Moore is ranked No. 1 on tour and is being chased by No. 2 Lakey Peterson of Santa Barbara, Calif., and No. 3 Caroline Marks of Melbourne Beach, Fla.

Vans Triple Crown of Surfing

>> Hawaiian Pro, at Haleiwa’s Alii Beach Park, Frederico Morais, champion.

>> Vans World Cup of Surfing, at Sunset Beach, today through Dec. 7.

>> Billabong Pipe Masters, at Pipeline, Dec. 8-20.