Land photos: WSL/Luis Barra. Water photos: WSL/Pablo Jiménez

Three Chileans make up the majority of the eight surfers remaining in the competition at the QS 1500, Maui and Sons Pichilemu Women's Pro, which yesterday Thursday contested its first day in solid and perfect waves of one and a half to two meters breaking at the legendary Putna de Lobos.

Lorena Fica, Natalia Escobar and Jessica Anderson excelled against their competitors from the rest of the world. The quarterfinals were formed as follows:

Leilani McGonagle vs Lorena Fica
Jessica Anderson vs Lucia Cosoletto
Natalia Escobar vs Camila Kemp
Anali Gomez vs Havana Cabrero

The best performance of the day was by local Jessica Anderson, who scored 14 points in round 2 to beat Josefina Ané from Argentina. Another standout was Analí Gómez, who put power into the waves; the Peruvian looked very comfortable on those left-hand trains.

Lucía Cosoletto made headlines, beating the 2016 champion of the event, Sofía Mulanovich, in a backside battle. Meanwhile, Puerto Rican Havanna Cabrero made her mark by knocking out the vice-leader of the South American ranking, Melanie Giunta.

Another surprise was Natalia Escobar's victory over the South American and Latin American champion, Mimi Barona.

The tournament is on hold for the start of the second day. With plenty of waves and time and only eight surfers, the organizers will presumably look for the best time of the sea to finish the stage.