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Ex-world champion wins Rip Curl Girls Festival
by George Mojo
09/09/2007:// Ex-World Champion Sofia Mulanovich took out South American rival Silvana Lima to take victory at the Rip Curl Girls Festival in Spain.
The Peruvian dominated the left handers at Liencres, in Santander, securing an 8.5 point ride in the final to defeat Lima by 1.55 points.
"I am so happy, I haven't won a contest for a while so this feels amazing," Mulanovich said. "I needed a pretty good score in that heat and I just thought to myself 'I can do this, these waves are perfect for my surfing and there is no way she is going to get this one off me, this is my wave."
In what proved to be a clash of fierce South American surfing, it was Lima, from Brazil, who took an early lead , her pair of seven-point rides leaving Mulanovich no choice but to reveal the depth of her surfing talent.
The former ASP World Champion answered back with an 8.50 and 7.05.
"Silvana is an amazing surfer," Mulanovich said. "I knew it was going to be a tough Final but everything has worked out perfectly for me this week and now I am pumped and ready to go for the world title."
The victory was Mulanovich's first of 2007 and has bumped her up from World No. 6 to World No. 3 on the ASP Ratings.
Her best result of 2007 going into this event was a second place finish to Australian Stephanie Gilmore at the Rip Curl Women's Pro at Bells Beach in April.
Lima's runner-up finish marks her second consecutive second place result this year and sees her move up into the World No. 2 spot.
"It's amazing," Lima said. "It's my second final which is awesome and now I am second on the ASP ratings which is really important for me."
Leaving Spain, semi-finalist Samantha Cornish now holds the World number one spot for the first time in her professional surfing career.
Cornish finished equal third when she was ousted by Mulanovich in semi-final one.
"It's amazing," Cornish glowed. "This was my plan for the whole year, it's really tight with five world title contenders and it's not going to be an easy road. Hopefully I can keep it together and you never know what could happen."
Cornish was awarded the ASP injury wildcard at the end of 2006 after nearly falling off the tour and has stamped her dominance on top tier surfing this year, with another outstanding performance at this event.
Inspired by her traveling buddy Samantha Cornish's recent success in Brazil, Amee Donohoe secured her best result in her first year back on the ASP Women's World Tour, finishing equal third when she was defeated by Lima in semi-final two.
"I can't complain, it would have been nice to make the final but this will improve my spot on the ratings and I just really want to stay on tour," Donohoe said.
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