RYAN Callinan will have to beat Brazilian aerial specialist Italo Ferreira to remain in the Bells Beach Pro when it resumes in what shapes as the most difficult heat for Newcastle's trio of surfers.
The men were given a spell from surfing the Championship Tour contest on Wednesday as the women hit the water with the next call for the male surfers slated for 7am Thursday.
Callinan and fellow Merewether surfers Jackon Baker and Morgan Cibilic qualified for the round of 32 earlier this week.
Baker surfs in heat three against South African Jordy Smith, while Cibilic faces Hawaiin Barron Mamiya, who won the Sunset Beach Pro in February, in heat eight.
Callinan has drawn 2019 world champion Ferreira in the final heat of the round.
Callinan and Cibilic desperately need decent results to be a chance to stay on the tour this season after the next event in Western Australia, where the field will be cut from 36 to 24 surfers.
Meanwhile, Sally Fitzgibbons left it until the final minutes of her third-round heat at Bells Beach to snag a win that has kept the Australian star's hopes of avoiding the tour's mid-season cut alive.
Sitting 17th after three events, she needs to be in the top 10 after the next event at Margaret River to avoid missing out on the rest of the tour.
Olympian Fitzgibbons was facing an early exit against Malia Manuel on Wednesday. Twice the Hawaiian edged ahead but a 6.10 on Fitzgibbons' final wave was enough to move clear and then cling to a 12.93 to 12.60 lead in the last five minutes, securing a quarter-final against American Courtney Conlogue.
"You feel the pressure, but I've taken steps to (arrive here) ... relaxed, surfing free and bringing my best," Fitzgibbons, a two-time Bells champion said.
"Which is hard with pressure mounting on your head. When those results aren't coming easy you start to question things, but it's cool to come out the other side."
She isn't the only one alive and chasing a points boost, compatriots Steph Gilmore (14th), Tyler Wright (seventh) and Bronte Macaulay (18th) all winning their heats.
Macaulay scored 15.66 to blow by in-form Brazilian Tatiana Weston-Webb, before Wright linked 8.17 and 9.07 rides to blitz Hawaii's Gabriela Bryan and Gilmore fought from behind to beat Australian rookie India Robinson 14.9 to 13.23.
Seven-times world champion Gilmore will face five-times champion Carissa Moore in a blockbuster quarter-final while Macaulay will surf against Wright.
Robinson (eighth) and Wright are the only two Australian women currently in the top 10, but a host of upsets on the Victorian Surf Coast are leaving the door open for movement before competition heads west.
After a long absence from the tour due to illness, two-time world champion Wright has no plans to slide out.
"It's the only event I want to win. This event is special," Wright said.
"That was really fun and really special. It's been four years since I surfed out here and a long time since I've felt like I've surfed like myself.
"I'm starting to get glimpses of that, so it's quite emotional for me.
"I look down at my body and it feels like my body; it's powerful, strong and connected."
