The Portuguese surfer was eliminated in round 16 of the Western Australian event, after losing the duel against his friend and training partner Ryan Callinan.

With the sea presenting itself unexpectedly aligned, even though difficult for the competitors, the contest’s organisation decided to put the men’s eighth-finals in the water to shorten a possible final day. This way, Frederico ended up going into the water in the fourth heat of the day, with a system of overlapping heats in effect.

With Kikas facing the Margaret River Main Break straights from the frontside, Callinan benefited from riding the wave from the backside, making the most critical maneuvers of the heat. After some initial balance, the Australian got a wave with 8,93 points that decided in his favour.

Frederico Morais still had priority in the final stretch of the heat, but he couldn’t score more than 10,36 points, against Callinan’s 14,86, and needed a score of 9,43 points in a maximum of 10 to invert the course of events. Something that would never happen, due to the lack of potential of the waves.

The surfer from Cascais, 29 years old, said goodbye to Margaret River with another 9th place, after having already got the same result in Newcastle. However, this was the best result of Kikas’ career in this stage, where in the three previous seasons he had never managed to pass any round.

After arriving in Western Australia in the 8th position of the ranking, Frederico Morais may lose some positions in the ranking, although it is probable that he will remain inside the world’s top 12, which will make him remain as top seed in the next stage of the Championship Tour.

From Margaret River the best surfers of the World will go to Rottnest Island, also in Western Australia. This is a new stop on the circuit and will be the fourth and last stage on Australian waves, at the same time that it is the fifth event of the season.