Costa Rican Carlos Muñoz has just made it to the quarterfinals of the first QS 10.000 of the year, the Ballito Pro, which is being held in Ballito, South Africa. This is his best result of the year and the third best of his career, which puts him squarely in the qualifying zone for the CT 2020.

In neat, one-meter beach break conditions, similar to any day at his Playa Hermosa in Jacó, Carlos was agile and effective in his round of 24 heat to beat two CT members: former world champion Adriano de Souza and Hawaiian Ezekiel Lau,

Later, with conditions a little more blown from the side, ideal for frontside aerials, Cali went into the air and beat local star Beyrick DeVries (14,66 to 10,44).

The result guaranteed him 5.200 points, which added to the 6.890 he already has (minus the discard of his worst result) gives him 10.890 points and will catapult him from position 20 to a place in the top 10, within the qualifying zone for the CT 2020, still with quite a way to go but with one of the best first half years of his career.

After getting out of the water, the Costa Rican said that he made a change of boards at the beginning of the series that was key, he chose the one he likes to do aerials and that “it proved to be a good change.”

“I am very happy. I have been coming here for many years and I have never missed a series. This is a different year, I have been doing things differently, staying healthy and training a lot and I think this is the reward,” she added.

Muñoz will now go head-to-head with last year's event runner-up and current CT member, Jack Freestone of Australia.