{"id":42848,"date":"2013-07-28T17:08:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T00:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=42848"},"modified":"2013-07-29T11:40:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T18:40:31","slug":"alejo-muniz-wins-us-open-of-surfing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=42848","title":{"rendered":"Alejo Muniz Wins US Open of Surfing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Muniz<\/a>
\nAlejo Muniz<\/em><\/strong> looks heavenward in thanks after his win. Photo: <\/em>Gabriel Retzer
\n<\/em><\/strong>
\nAfter a week of marginal surf the 2013 Vans US Open of Surfing<\/strong> wrapped up with Alejo Muniz<\/strong> and Kolohe Andino<\/strong> (two of the lightest guys on tour) battling it out for the title. But Muniz got the upper hand early in the tiny surf and took it 16.23 to Andino’s 14.54.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy, I can\u2019t believe it,\u201d Muniz said. \u201cToday marks the four-year anniversary of my grandfather\u2019s passing and I\u2019d like to dedicate this win to him. This is the biggest win of my career and it\u2019s the biggest crowd I\u2019ve ever surfed in front of. I knew I had to get scores and the waves were dying a little bit with the high tide and the ocean really cooperated with me today.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump.Alejo Muniz Wins ASP Prime Vans US Open of Surfing<\/p>\n

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California\/USA (Sunday, July 28, 2013) – Alejo Muniz (BRA), 23, has won the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Vans US Open of Surfing over Kolohe Andino (USA), 19, in peaky one-to-three foot (1 metre) waves at Huntington Beach Pier.<\/p>\n

The Vans US Open of Surfing is the fourth of eight ASP Prime events on the 2013 calendar, offering crucial points towards surfers\u2019 ASP World Ranking and a coveted US$100,000 first place prize purse.<\/p>\n

Muniz would get the best of an opening exchange with Andino, belting a 8.43 for a series of seamless frontside turns. The Brazilian would quickly backup the ride on his backhand, scalping a 7.80 on a left breaking in to the pier to solidify the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy, I can\u2019t believe it,\u201d Muniz said. \u201cToday marks the four-year anniversary of my grandfather\u2019s passing and I\u2019d like to dedicate this win to him. This is the biggest win of my career and it\u2019s the biggest crowd I\u2019ve ever surfed in front of. I knew I had to get scores and the waves were dying a little bit with the high tide and the ocean really cooperated with me today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muniz, who entered the Vans US Open ranked No. 24, had struggled to find a big result throughout the first half of his ASP season, but vaults to No. 15 on the rankings compliments of his win in Huntington Beach today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been really focused because I hadn\u2019t really had big results coming in to this event,\u201d Muniz said. \u201cI was putting everything in to this event and the work paid off. I focused more on myself rather than who I was surfing against and what scores they were getting. I\u2019ve been getting good scores, but losing heats for some reason. I knew inside that I just needed to get the good waves and surf how I could. I\u2019m stoked that I was able to do it this week. I think I surfed smart all week and it\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kolohe Andino was the last Southern Californian remaining in men\u2019s competition and was in dangerous form entering the final. The progressive regular-footer would open his final exchange with a 7.77 but was unable to find the second score needed to surpass Muniz, finishing runner-up overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to Alejo,\u201d Andino said. \u201cHe surfed amazing all week. It would have been nice to win, but I just couldn\u2019t find a second wave and I\u2019m happy that I made the final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bede Durbidge (AUS), 31, unloaded signature power-surfing throughout Vans US Open, besting fellow ASP WCT standout Michel Bourez (PYF), 27, while advancing to the Semifinals. The Australian was unable to surpass Andino in the Semifinals, but hopes to take his success in Huntington Beach to the back half of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many people would have picked me to make the Semifinals in this event so it was a good result for me,\u201d Durbidge said. \u201cI came over here to just get back to winning heats and I got four or five wins under my belt and I\u2019ll just take that momentum in to the back half of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Banting (AUS), 18, proved to be darkhorse of the 2013 Vans US Open of Surfing, besting a flock of the world\u2019s best surfers on his way to an incredible equal 3rd place finish. Banting went on to eliminate Jordy Smith (ZAF), 25, in the Quarterfinals, but was unable to surpass Muniz in their Semifinals clash. Banting\u2019s result launches him from from 92 to 41 on the men\u2019s ASP World Ranking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve dreamt of that heat against Jordy (Smith) my whole life and to surf against him and to beat him, I\u2019m so happy,\u201d Banting said following his Quarterfinals win. \u201cI was just wishing that no waves would come and to just better that 3.77 on my final wave. I\u2019m just frothing. I\u2019m not trying to qualify just yet. I\u2019m taking it heat-by-heat and to beat Jordy, anything after that would have been a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

VANS US OPEN OF SURFING MEN\u2019S FINAL RESULT:
\n1 – Alejo Muniz (BRA) 16.23
\n2 – Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.54<\/p>\n

VANS US OPEN OF SURFING MEN\u2019S SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
\nSF 1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.00 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.76
\nSF 2: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 14.00 def. Matt Banting (AUS) 11.50<\/p>\n

VANS US OPEN OF SURFING MEN\u2019S QUARTERFINALS MATCH UPS:
\nQF 1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.66 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.27
\nQF 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.50 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.43
\nQF 3: Matt Banting (AUS) 10.70 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 9.30
\nQF 4: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.64 def. Nat Young (USA) 5.83<\/p>\n

\"20130728-170839.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alejo Muniz looks heavenward in thanks after his win. Photo: Gabriel Retzer After a week of marginal surf the 2013 Vans US Open of Surfing wrapped up with Alejo Muniz and Kolohe Andino (two of the lightest guys on tour) battling it out for the title. But Muniz got the upper hand early in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42848"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42848"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42884,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42848\/revisions\/42884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}