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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sally Fitzgibbons Wins Billabong Rio Pro, Closes ASP World Title Gap&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;BARRA DA TIJUCA, Rio de Janeiro\\/Brazil (Sunday, May 13, 2012) \\u2013 Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 21, has taken out the Billabong Women\\u2019s Rio Pro over Coco Ho (HAW), 21, by a score of 14.10 to 14.03 in peaky one-to-three foot (.5 metre) waves at the primary venue of Barra da Tijuca.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Event No. 5 of 7 on the 2012 ASP Women\\u2019s World Championship Tour, the Billabong Pro Rio culminated in a thrilling fashion this afternoon with both Fitzgibbons and Ho exchanging the Final\\u2019s lead multiple times before the hooter sounded. In need of a high 7-point ride with just minutes remaining in the heat, Fitzgibbons bashed a blowing lefthander on her backside, notching a 7.93 out of 10 to take the elite win, her second of the year.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cThat was so crazy and Coco (Ho) had me on the ropes for sure,\\u201d Fitzgibbons said. \\u201cI just had my fingers crossed and knew there would be one towards the end. I made a few mistakes and it happens in Finals but I was able to recover there at the end. I\\u2019m so excited.\\u201d Fitzgibbons, current No. 2 on the ASP Women\\u2019s WCT, has significantly narrowed the gap between her and current ASP frontrunner Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 24, but remained humble in regards to her chase for the 2012 ASP World Title.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;figure id=\\\"attachment_1000146793\\\" style=\\\"width: 640px\\\" class=\\\"wp-caption aligncenter\\\"&gt;&lt;img class=\\\"size-full wp-image-1000146793\\\" title=\\\"Sally Fitzgibbons\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.grindtv.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2012\\/05\\/Sally-Fitzgibbons.jpg\\\" alt=\\\"Sally Fitzgibbons\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"379\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;figcaption class=\\\"wp-caption-text\\\"&gt;Sally Fitzgibbons after winning the Billabong Rio Pro. Photo: ASP&lt;\\/figcaption&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cThis makes the World Title race more interesting, but thinking ahead, it\\u2019s still pretty far to go,\\u201d Fitzgibbons said. \\u201cThere are still a couple of events, but to get a win, it\\u2019s an amazing result. To win at Bells too, it\\u2019s been an awesome year so far.\\u201d Ho, who was ranked 12th on the ASP Women\\u2019s WCT ratings before the Billabong Rio Pro, had yet to advance beyond the Quarterfinals this year, but her Runner-Up finish to Fitzgibbons vaults the young Hawaiian to 9th in the world and restores her confidence to appropriate levels.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cThis result really opens things up for me,\\u201d Ho said. \\u201cI\\u2019ve been having a really tough year and I\\u2019m stoked to get into this Final. This is my best result of the year and this has been an important event for me. Congrats to Sally on her win.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Carissa Moore (HAW), 19, last year\\u2019s Billabong Rio Pro winner and reigning ASP Women\\u2019s World Champion, was edged out of a hard-fought battle against Fitzgibbons in their high-scoring Semifinal affair. Both competitors posted big-scores in the dying seconds of the heat, but it was Fitzgibbons who earned the best of the exchange, handing Moore and equal 3rd place result.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cI think we all want to make the Final and it\\u2019s disappointing,\\u201d Moore said. \\u201cI\\u2019ve lost to Sally (Fitzgibbons)twice this year and I\\u2019ve just got to keep trying in the next couple of events and that\\u2019s it.\\u201d Moore, who was dominant over the course of 2011, has yet to find a win this year, but remains focused on attaining a strong performance to end out the season. \\u201cI think it\\u2019s been a bunch of things this year,\\u201d Moore said. \\u201cI think finding the right waves is one thing overall and I need to switch it up and bring something different out.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Alessa Quizon (HAW), 18, Billabong Rio Pro wildcard, put in an incredible performance at this year\\u2019s event, tearing through the world\\u2019s best female surfers and finding her way into the Semifinals. Quizon put up a good fight against fellow Hawaiian Coco Ho, but ultimately fell during last minute exchange, finishing with a respectable equal 3rd place finish overall. \\u201cThis has been an amazing event for me,\\u201d Quizon said. \\u201cI had nothing to lose and it\\u2019s been a great learning experience for me and I\\u2019m happy that I made it to the Semifinals. I could tell that Coco (Ho) was getting the scores that she needed and I was looking for one big score and I just didn\\u2019t find it. Sometimes it happens that way.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am local time for a possible recommencement to men\\u2019s Billabong Rio Pro competition. For all of the LIVE action log on to www.billabongpro.com. The Billabong Rio Pro is proudly supported by Monster Energy Drink and Xperia Sony Smartphone.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The next stop on the 2012 ASP Women\\u2019s World Championship Tour is the Roxy Pro Biarritz from July 10 \\u2013 14, 2012&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;BILLABONG WOMEN\\u2019S RIO PRO FINAL RESULT:&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n1 &amp;#8211; Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 14.10&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n2 &amp;#8211; Coco Ho (HAW) 14.03&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;BILLABONG WOMEN\\u2019S RIO PRO SEMIFINAL RESULTS:&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nSF 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 14.16 def. Alessa Quizon (HAW) 10.94&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nSF 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.47 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.36&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;CURRENT ASP WOMEN\\u2019S WCT TOP 5 (After Billabong Rio Pro):&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n1. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 38,400 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n2. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 36,900 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n3. Carissa Moore (HAW) 30,200 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n4. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 29,600 pts&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n5. Tyler Wright (AUS) 28,700 pts&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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