The women lit up the beach late in the afternoon with Hawaiian world champ Carissa Moore (pictured) posting the best score of the contest, a 9.90 for a carving wave with a big "air reverse" to beat Frenchwoman Johanne Defay.
Meanwhile, Newcastle surfers have dominated Merewether Friday as local boys Morgan Cibilic and Ryan Callinan progressed to the quarter finals.
Callinan took half a heat to get a decent score on the board, but when he did he reeled in his opponent Owen Wright at the halfway point.
He was never headed from that point and set up a big Merewether showdown in the quarter finals with his club mate Morgan Cibilic, meaning that the Newcastle-based club will have someone go as deep as the semi-finals, at least.
The mate-versus-mate showdown - with only one to profess to the semis - comes as the swell at Merewether returns with 1 to 1.5 metre waved inshore increasing to up to two metres offshore. Conditions are expected to maintain through the weekend to Sunday.
The action continues at Merewether.
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