Tyler Wright and Molly Picklum will duel to ensure there'll be at least one Australian woman surfer in the semi-finals at Rip Curl Pro Portugal after a dramatic day at famed Supertubos.
Wright had to prevail in another all-Australian battle in Sunday's round-of-16 against Sally Fitzgibbons to set up her clash with in-form Picklum, who reached her third straight World Surf League quarter-final of the season by defeating Brazilian Luana Silva.
The 30-year-old Wright revealed afterwards that she had been feeling under the weather during her contest with old rival Fitzgibbons, an illustrious duo who have won 29 WSL trophies between them.
"I haven't been feeling so well, so I didn't have much more than two waves in me," Wright said.
"Every wave I took off her was a win for me, because I couldn't do much more. Hopefully, I'll bounce back tomorrow.
"The 15 years of experience definitely helps me to just produce something on demand, even though I haven't been surfing much lately. I'm stoked when I can get it done."
Two-time world champ Wright, who leads their head-to-head meetings, always seemed in control as she prevailed with a two-wave score of 10.67 to the 6.54 earned by Fitzgibbons, who was just delighted to still be in the competitive fray at the age of 34.
Gosford's Picklum was involved in a tight tussle with Silva, edging her duel 11.03 to 8.87, before looking forward to a clash with Wright, eight years her senior.
"It's Portugal, I feel like I trust my surfing and I've got even more to give," said Picklum, who is currently second in the women's WSL standings.
"Luana is such a good surfer and she really came out trying to prove a point, so I knew it was going to be a fight and I'm happy I got that one."
There will be four Australian men in the round-of-32 contests, headed by Ethan Ewing, fourth in the live WSL standings, who will meet Frenchman Gatien Delahaye.
There's the prospect of an all-Australian last-16 match-up between Perth's eighth-ranked Jack Robinson, if he can get past Hawaiian Ian Gentil, and Brisbane's Liam O'Brien, who first has a tough task against American Crosby Colapinto.
The 21-year-old Sydney rookie Joel Vaughan faces the experienced Moroccan Ramzi Boukhiam on the other side of the draw.
