Tyler Wright has made the long wait for action at Jeffreys Bay worth it by charging into the quarter-finals of the Corona Open in South Africa.
Finally hitting the water on Tuesday morning after the women's competition was delayed by poor conditions, Wright relished the rising swell at the famous point break to win her opening heat.
Australia's men rebounded from their first round disappointment with world No.3 Ethan Ewing, Jack Robinson and Connor O'Leary all winning their sudden-death heats.
World No.2 Wright got some revenge on Brazilian Tatiana Weston-Webb, who beat the Australian in last year's final.
Weston-Webb took an early lead before Wright roared back to win a tight tussle, scoring 14.90 for her two best waves to send her rival to an elimination round with a tally of 14.36, while France's Johanne Defay was third with 13.10.
Two-time world champion Wright said she had to overcome cramping in the heat.
"I was worried I was getting my period during the heat as I had some wild cramping," Wright told the WSL.
"There was a point when I didn't think I was going to be able to push ... I thought I'd have to be really selective and not do much more than pick the best waves that come through and I feel like I did that pretty well."
Reigning world champion Stephanie Gilmore ran into red-hot American Caroline Marks in her opening heat.
Marks, 21, hasn't finished lower than the semi-finals in the last four events, winning in El Salvador.
The world No.3 threw down an almost perfect score of 9.63 on her first wave to set the pace and then backed it up with an 8.17 for a formidable total of 17.80.
Hawaiian Bettylou Sakura Johnson also posted an 8.33 score for a combined 15.00, leaving eight-time world champion Gilmore with a mountain to climb.
The 35-year-old finally nailed a 6.33 wave but she couldn't find a big score to finish a distant third.
In the men's early elimination round heats on Tuesday Ewing (14.73) also overcame a local hope in Adin Masencamp (8.50), while Robinson won a thriller against 11-time world champion Kelly Slater with just 0.24 point splitting the pair.
Sydneysider O'Leary was on fire, opening with a 9.57 before tallying 18.24 to outscore compatriot Callum Robson's 10.33.
Ryan Callinan and Liam O'Brien were still to complete their elimination heats.
Australian young gun Molly Picklum, ranked fourth, was in two heats completed on Monday, frustrated by small waves that delayed the start and forced an early finish.
Picklum was beaten by Hawaii's Gabriela Bryan, who found the best wave of the day when she whipped out three quick turns for 7.00 points.
Local wildcard Sarah Baum beat five-time world champion Carissa Moore in the other heat.
