'Kikas', 14th in the world last year got 11.1 points (5.67 and 5.43), which was not enough compared with Igarashi’s 15.26 (7.33 and 7.93) who was competing for the first time as Japanese after starting his career under the US flag.

The Portuguese equalled the 13th place he got in the first of the three Australian competitions in 2017, winning 1,750 points in the world ranking, along with Brazilian Gabriel Medina, the winner of the 2014 circuit and ahead of Hawaiian John John Florence, twice world champion.

Medina and John John were both eliminated by 21-year-old Australian Mikey Wright, the younger brother of Owen Wright and Tyler Wright, world champions in 2016 and 2017, who was put out of the competition in the fourth heat.