After 5 lay days and a million round trips to the Jesus statue, the comp is finally back on in Rio. Taj already got the jump on local wildcard Gustavo Fernandes in building stormy two-to-three foot waves.

Looking forward, ASP Head Judge Rich Porta said “We’ll keep an eye on the conditions, but we plan to run the 12 heats of Round 2 and will see where we go from there.”

You can tune in to the Billabong Rio Pro live webcast here.

Taj moves through to Round 3. Image Credit: ASP / SMORIGO

BILLABONG RIO PRO ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Gustavo Fernandes (BRA)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Messias Felix (BRA)
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Jack Freestone (AUS)
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Ricardo dos Santos (BRA)
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)
Heat 6: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 10: Travis Logie (ZAF) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 12: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Filipe Toledo (BRA)