Round 2 of the women’s event and Round 3 of the men’s event delivered high drama and huge upsets, defining Elimination Rounds.

Round 3 highlights kicked off with Kolohe Andino landing a frontside air about 5 feet above the lip and scoring him an 8.50 in heat 3 against Kelly Slater. Slater scored a 7.00 for finding a barrel in the smaller conditions and following up with an alleyoop. Slater couldn't find what he was looking for and lost the heat with a 14.20 to Andino's 15.77.

The highest average waves score of round 3 was in heat 5 with Bede Durbidge and Ace Buchan. Buchan kicked off the heat with powerful fins-free hacks of the lip and scoring a 9.23 for his first wave. Durbidge answered back with a 9.20 and the high scores continued throughout the heat. Durbidge dominated with powerful hacks and his second wave score of 9.17. These two rides pushed him through to the next round with a heat score of 18.37 against Buchan's 17.40.

It was a big heat for Mick Fanning who had to win to continue to be in the run for the World Title. Local wildcard Maxime Huscenot dominated the heat until the final moments when Fanning scored a 9.03 and winning the heat with a 17.83 over Huscenot's 16.04.

Gabriel Medina was on fire in heat 10 and was in the lead from the beginning dropping a 9.00 and a 9.70 with powerful hacks eliminating CJ Hobgood who scored a 6.00 and an 8.23.