SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Gabriel Medina of Brazil turned in some dazzling rides and defeated season champion Kelly Slater Monday to win the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco.
Medina ousted Slater in the semis at Ocean Beach and went on to best Joel Parkinson of Australia in the finals for his second win on the Association of Surfing Professionals tour.
Medina tallied a score of 17.33 points out of a possible 20, the highest score of the day, in his semifinal win over Taylor Knox of the United States. He then beat Parkinson 16.50-10.90 with a series of high-point backhand blasts in the strong shorebreak conditions.
"It was hard with Taylor and Kelly and I'm just stoked," Medina said. "The conditions were kind of fun; cold, but really fun."
Slater surfed well enough to ice his 11th ASP world title on Sunday but was beaten by Medina Monday 14.50-11.10.
Slater said he aimed for a better showing at the ASP season finale at Hawaii's famed Banzai Pipeline Dec. 8-20.
"In my eyes that's the prized possession in surfing," he said. "It's really a piece of surf history."
