It was the morning of the finals and the conditions were similar to what they'd been all contest: 4-6 foot, windy, and shallow...

Kai Otton started early against Bruno Santos with five throw aways until he posted a 5.67 to begin the heat with about 15 minutes to go. Bruno answered back with a 4.73. Kai then extended his lead with a 7.83. Bruno answered back with a 7.03 but it wasn't enough. Took off on a wave in the last few minutes but couldn't complete and ended yet another great performance from the Teahupoo specialist.

The retiring yet reinvigorated CJ Hobgood had a ding dong battle with injury wildcard Aritz Aranburu. CJ posted the first points with a 7.83 but Aritz answered back with 6.43. CJ then posted a 6.53 and once again Aritz answered with a 7.57. Aritz only needed a 6.80 to take the lead with plenty on time on the clock, yet the bombs simply stopped dropping. The battlefield went flat and CJs dream run continued.

There were only seven waves caught in the last heat of Round 5 between Jeremy Flores and Wiggolly Dantas. It was a simple matter of whoever was on the best would progress – Flores did just that.

The Quarters Finals was full of heavyweights, none bigger than 6'4” event favourite Owen Wright. Wright was up against Italo Ferreira and put on a clinic with a finals berth seemingly a formality.

The biggest heat of the quarters was always going to be Kelly Slater against past Pipe Master, Past AI Award Winner, and current most improved surfer on tour, Jeremy Flores. Unfortunately the waves fell short of the occasion, but Kelly started things off quickly – as is his want – posting keepers from under priority. In contrast, Flores sat and waited and made the few waves he caught count. They were bigger, they were expertly ridden, and they won him the heat. Slater out, Flores progressed, and then it was on to the Semis.

Owen Wright hit a brick wall in his semi heat against last year's winner Gabriel Medina. Medina threw away two 7's in his convincing win while Wright was holding a 2.63 in his two wave total.

Flores continued his sit-and-wait approach against CJ who, like Slater before him, did his utmost to keep busy. And just like Slater, the strategy backfired; Jeremy patiently caught the best waves and dispatched CJ who was left in combo land.

So the final was 2010 Teahupoo champion Jeremy Flores vs last year's champion Gabriel Medina. Straight off the hooter Gabs tried paddling Flores up the point but he should've paid closer attention to Jeremy's strategy throughout the event. Which was to find your fave takeoff spot and wat for the waves to come. Which they did; Gabs scrapped into the first wave – a closeout – while Flores' first wave was a 9.87 with two judges giving him 10. And that, pretty much, was the final wrapped up the right there. Gabs tried keeping busy but Jeremy's poise held true and he only took off one one more wave for the heat scoring a 7.00 and securing his second win here at Chopes.

Despite falling early, Adrinao De Souza has been able to maintain his shark loving yellow jersey going into Trestles. Fortunately for ADS, Mick Fanning, Julian Wilson and Filipe Toledo all failed to overtake him. There's now less than 2,000 points between the top five, and Gabriel Medina and Jeremy Flores have now pushed their way into the top ten.

This is going to be one of the closest runs into the last four events and the world title. There are contestable surfers still in the lower seeds who could easily cause a few more upsets in the next few events, not including the Hawaiian wildcards known for causing big upsets at Pipe. The title is really anyone's right now. Go Owen!

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