Slater records perfect score in U.S. Open of Surfing

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Kelly Slater brushed off a slow start Friday, recovering in the middle of his heat to advance to Saturday’s competition.

When the time arrived, the nine-time champion made certain he would secure his position early for tomorrow’s men’s quarterfinals in the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.

Slater scored 10s across the board on a barrel in his first wave and gradually posted solid scores (6.33, 6.83, 7.40) to ensure he will be one of eight surfers Sunday in contention for the record $100,000 purse.

Slater recorded the second perfect score in this year’s tournament. Unlike Friday when he relied on a high score in the third wave to keep him in contention, his first score alone Saturday would have sufficed. His opponent, Nic Muscroft, mustered a score of 4.67 in the first wave and drastically fell from there (0.70 and 0.63).

“I think it’s the biggest wave I’ve caught in Huntington,” Slater told The Times about the first wave. “The big ones is a coin toss, really, whether you’re going to make a wave like that or not. Most of them close out quickly.”

Slater is the favorite to win the grand prize in a competition with Mick Fanning, Michael Bourez, Adriano de Souza, CJ Hobgood, Patrick Gudauskas and Nathan Curran. However, Brett Simpson, who has surfed at Huntington Beach for years, is expected to provide a sturdy challenge.

Simpson recorded scores of 8.50 and 5.00 on Saturday.

The Hurley men’s finals, which features the top two surfers vying for the title, starts Sunday at approximately 12:40 p.m.

[UPDATE - 4:40 P.M.] Courtney Conlouge today defeated Malia Manuel to win the U.S. Open of Surfing women’s finals in Huntington Beach. More on latimes.com/sports later.

-- Mario Aguirre