Monday, 16 April 2018:
 | | TYLER WRIGHT of Australia competes in the Women's semi-final during the Australian Open of Surfing in Sydney, Australia. | |
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Australians Tyler Wright and Stephanie Gilmore put a nearby shark attack to the back of their minds to cruise to the quarter-finals of the Margaret River Pro.
But fellow Australian Sally Fitzgibbons was knocked out in the third round by the barest of margins.
The World Surf League event was put on hold for an hour on Monday morning after a shark attack at Cobblestones beach, near Grace Town.
A man in his 30s was bitten on the leg shortly before 8am and was flown to hospital.
The attack happened about 15km from where round-two women's heats were being held at Main Point.
Once news filtered through, the WSL put the event on hold.
After discussions with local authorities and the Water Safety Team, organisers restarted the competition and deployed extra drones and jet skis.
Wright and Kiwi Paige Hareb were the first to hit the water when surfing resumed.
The Australian came up trumps in the round-two heat, with her two-wave score of 14.73 eclipsing Hareb (13.03).
Wright secured a quarter-final berth later in the day by finishing in the top two of her three-person heat in the third round.
Gilmore dominated her third-round match-up to also cruise into the quarter-finals.
The six-time world champion racked up a two-wave total of 17.10 to see off Tatiana Weston-Webb (13.27) and Caroline Marks (9.73).
The result ended the run of 16-year-old Marks but Weston-Webb will go into the quarter-finals because the top two surfers in each third-round heat qualify.
Fitzgibbons, who's battling a toe injury, needed a good result at the Margaret River Pro to get her season back on track.
But the 27-year-old was knocked out in the third round, with her total of 14.90 falling just short of second-placed Bronte Macaulay (14.94).
Three-time world champion Carissa Moore won the heat with a score of 17.37.
Lakey Peterson and Nikki van Dijk also secured quarter-final berths.
Hawaiian veteran Coco Ho's hopes were ended in the third round when she was slapped with an interference penalty.
It meant she could tally only a one-wave total instead of the usual two in the heat against Wright and Johanne Defay.
Wright (14.06) and Defay (12.10) put the result beyond doubt once their two-wave totals eclipsed the 10-point mark.
Organisers initially wanted to start the quarter-finals on Monday afternoon but deteriorating conditions convinced them to put it on hold until Tuesday at the earliest.
The men's competition may also continue on Tuesday.
