The waves were pumping down in Saquarema today, and the Brazilians, emboldened by a raucous home crowd (on a Monday, no less) rose to the challenge. Heading into finals day (most likely running tomorrow if conditions hold), the men’s side will be crowning a home-town winner as four Brazilians head into the semi finals: Italo Ferreira punched his ticket to finals day with an explosive performance to beat Miguel Pupo on the tiebreak of highest single-wave score, Samuel Pupo fought off local wildcard Mateus Herdy, Yago Dora took to the air to beat Callum Robson, and Filipe Toledo took out Connor O’Leary, clinching his appearance at the WSL Finals at Lower Trestles this September.
With finals day on the horizon, will Italo keep his explosive run going or will Sammy keep adding to his incredible rookie year? And on the other side of the draw, will we see Filipe take home his fourth Rio title, or will Yago Dora continue the comeback of a lifetime? Only time will tell.
