Argentine Leandro Usuna found his best form today on the first day of the Rip Curl Pro Argentina, a 1500-level QS that began with half-meter waves and good formation in the heats.

While everyone else was surfing near the Biología jetty, Usuna chose to enter the middle of the beach, winning his heat against Fernando Junior, Pedro Dib and Joaquín Juarez.

In all the series that followed, the surfers imitated the locals and surfed more in the middle of the beach.

“I chose to surf in the middle because I wanted to catch more waves and I knew that I would have opportunities there,”  Lele told DUKE after winning. “I am happy to be back in good form, I was doing badly and with this the year has just begun for me,” he said, referring to the poor results he had been having and the contrast with this first victory.

Usuna highlighted the benefits of having an event close to home: “It is incredible to have an event 5 minutes away instead of 50 hours away,” he said.

The best score of the day was achieved by the Brazilian Mateus Herdy, who scored 13,50 (8+5,5), and that 8 was also the best wave.

Other surfers who put in outstanding performances to make it to round 3 were: Caetano Vargas, Jihad Kodr, Facundo Arreyes, Roberto Araki, Samuel Pupo and Martín Passeri.

The event continues tomorrow with round 1 of the women's QS 1000.

This is how round 3 was determined:

S1: Armando Lins vs Caetano Vargas vs Gustavo Bertotto vs Leonardo Berbet
S2: Diego Aguiar vs Alan Donato vs Jihad Kodr vs Facundo Arreyes
S3: Lele Usuna vs Roberto Araki vs Leonardo Barcelos vs Julian Serres
S4: Fernando Junior vs José Neto vs Alex Lima vs Luan Carvalho
S5: Samuel Pupo vs Daniel Templar vs Adrián García vs Mateus Sena
S6: Daniel Adisaka vs. Juan Ruggiero vs. Alax Soares vs. Nicolás Vargas
S7: Mateus Herdy vs Nahuel Rull vs Vitor Mendes vs Renan Peres
S8: Joao Abreu vs. Wesley Santos vs. Martín Passeri vs. Igor Moraes