Kelly Slater will come up against giant-killer Bobby Martinez (USA) who claimed another couple of big scalps today in local hero Joel Parkinson (AUS) in round four, and then world number four in Damien Hobgood (USA) in the quarters. Slater was full of praise for the youngster and was looking forward to competing against him in the first semi final to be held tomorrow. He was however, wary of the rookie’s ability.

“It’s nice to be in the semis with Bobby,” said Slater. “He’s a longtime friend of mine and a great surfer. I’m just stoked to have him on tour. On paper with the guys he’s beaten in this event… well they’re the guys you have to beat to win the event and he’s taken out all the heavies. Maybe they underestimated him a bit. Bobby is just really quiet and just does his thing and smiles. I’m certainly not going to underestimate him. Some guys who have been on tour for years have never taken down so many good guys like he has.”
Martinez, as Slater suggested, was very cool about his spree of big-name defeats. The Californian youngster was taking it all in his stride and was not letting anything get to his head.
“There’s no was no way that I would have thought I would be going into the semi finals in my first event,” said Martinez. “I guess I keep getting lucky with waves. My luck is going to run out sooner or later but I hope it’s not in this event. I’m not thinking about winning at this stage. It would be nice to get the trophy for sure, but if I think too much it’ll go to my head and then I’ll lose so I just have to maintain focus and take it one heat at a time.”