Steph Gilmore can start planning her off-season after the Australian was beaten in the opening round of the World Surf League (WSL) event at Lower Trestles.
The current world No.17 needed to finish the event in California ranked in the top 14 women to compete in Peniche, Portugal and Cloud 9, Philippines, before the Championship Tour (CT) concludes and world champions are decided at December's Pipe Masters in Oahu, Hawaii.
But the eight-time world champion suffered a 10.90 to 10.10 defeat to Brisa Hennessy in a WSL Finals rematch from four years ago, and won't improve on her ranking.
"To come up against Steph, I just thought it was the hardest match-up in the draw," said Hennessy.
"I went up against her in 2022 and she got me just at the end. She’s just insane out there, so I feel like I got pretty lucky in that heat."
The 26-year-old Costa Rican, currently 18th in the standings, will face tour-leading Hawaiian Carissa Moore next.
Tahitian duo Tya Zebrowski and Vahine Fierro progressed in the only other women's heats completed due to poor conditions on Saturday (Sunday AEST) and will take part in round two.
That's when three more Aussies will hit the water for the first time - Molly Picklum, the reigning world champion, 2016 winner Tyler Wright and Sally Fitzgibbons.
The men's opening round was completed with an all-Australian duel after only two heats were surfed on day one to open stop No.9 on tour.
Oscar Berry (12.73) defeated Joel Vaughan (11.26) to reach the second round for the first time in 2026, before Brazil's Mateus Herdy (11.40) downed American Taj Lindblad (11.27).
"I’m definitely stoked to get the monkey off the back. It’s my ninth CT event and I’ve just made my first heat," Gold Coast's Berry said.
"It sucks that it was against my good mate Joel. We’ve been best mates for such a long time, but obviously just stoked to put on a good performance and show I can rip.
"Right before the heat started, I started getting goosebumps thinking about that matchup. The first-ever state titles I did, maybe the second comp I ever did of my life, and he mopped me. He’s mopped me so many times and it’s super cool to surf in a CT event with him, especially at Trestles, where I’ve watched growing up."
Six compatriots will hopefully get their campaigns underway on Tuesday (AEST) after a day off due to a high tide.
World No.7 Ethan Ewing, George Pittar (nine), Liam O'Brien (11), Jack Robinson (12), Morgan Cibilic (16) and Callum Robson (18) will need to finish in the top 22 to compete in the post-season events.
