October 6th will go down in history as one of the most important Peruvian events in a tournament on Brazilian soil in the history of the sport. On the waves of Sao Francisco, Santa Catarina, Melanie Giunta won the QS 1500 event, Sol Aguirre was crowned two-time South American champion and Daniella Rosas was runner-up in the youth event. In addition, these two surfers earned the two South American spots for the youth world championship.

In the grand final, Giunta was far superior to the local Monik Santos, beating her  by 14,10 to 11,34. Tied in third place were the Spaniard Lucía Martiño and the Brazilian Yanca Costa.

“I’m very happy. Monik (Santos) is an incredible competitor and I knew I had to surf my hardest to beat her,” Melanie Giunta told the WSL South America press department. “Mimi (Dominic Barona), who is like a sister to me, told me that I should get in the water to have fun, because I had nothing more to lose. So I went, just to take advantage of the good moment and thank God everything went well. This is my first victory on the world circuit and I’m very happy to have achieved this in Brazil, which is like a second home for me, since I always feel comfortable here. This year was a bit complicated, but now I’m happy to have broken the bad moment so from now on we’re going with everything for the next tournaments,” concluded the champion of the event.

With this result, Giunta will jump about 10 places in the ranking, moving from position 41 to somewhere around position 30 (at the time of publication, the ranking had not been updated).

You may be interested in: Sol Aguirre is a two-time South American youth champion

Related: Two Peruvians go to the WSL Junior World Championship

Complete results
QS Champion: Melanie Giunta (PER) by 14,10 points (7,67+6,43) – US$ 6.000 and 1.500 non-QS points
Vice champion: Monik Santos (BRA) with 11,34 points (6,17+5,17) – US$ 3.000 and 1.125 points

Semis
1st: Monik Santos (BRA) 11.50 x 10.25 Yanca Costa (BRA)
2nd: Melanie Giunta (PER) 6.70 x 6.10 Lucia Martino (ESP)

Quarter finals:
1st: Yanca Costa (BRA) 9.25 x 8.20 Diana Cristina (BRA)
2.a: Monik Santos (BRA) 7.75 x 6.90 Taís Almeida (BRA)
3.a: Melanie Giunta (PER) 8.40 x 6.30 Julia Santos (BRA)
4.a: Lucia Martino (ESP) 10.50 x 7.75 Gilvanilta Ferreira (BRA)

Pro junior
Champion: Catalina Mercere (ARG) with 11,33 points (7,33+4,00) – US$ 800 and 1.000 points
Runner-up: Daniela Rosas (PER) with 9,67 points (5,67+4,00) – US$ 400 and 750 points

Junior semis pro
1st: Catalina Mercere (ARG) 8.60 x 8.00 Sol Aguirre (PER)
2.a: Daniela Rosas (PER) 10.50 x 5.25 Taina Hinckel (BRA)

Pro Junior Quarterfinals
1st: Sol Aguirre (PER) 10.25 x 5.40 Rafaella Teixeira (BRA)
2nd: Catalina Mercere (ARG) 5.00 x 4.65 Maju Freitas (BRA)
3.a: Taina Hinckel (BRA) 12.75 x 3.25 Isabela Saldanha (BRA)
4.a: Daniela Rosas (PER) 10.85 x 8.15 Julia Duarte (BRA)

PRO JUNIOR FINAL RANKING:
Two-time champion: Sol Aguirre (PER) – 1.560 points
2.a: Daniela Rosas (PER) – 1.500
3.a: Catalina Mercere (ARG) – 1.280
4.a: Taina Hinckel (BRA) – 1.120
5.a: Maju Freitas (BRA) – 980
6.a: Anne dos Santos (BRA) – 720
6.a: Isabela Saldanha (BRA) – 720
8.a: Julia Camargo (BRA) – 700
9.a: Bruna Carderelli (BRA) – 600
10: Lara Barrios (PER) – 580

SOUTH AMERICAN WOMEN'S RANKING
1st: Dominic Barona (EQU) – 4.610 points
2nd: Melanie Giunta (PER) – 2.260
3.a: Lucia Indurain (ARG) – 2.185
4.a: Monik Santos (BRA) – 2.170
5.a: Camila Cassia (BRA) – 2.120
6.a: Taina Hinckel (BRA) – 1.970
7th: Yanca Costa (BRA) – 1.880
8.a: Tais Almeida (BRA) – 1.540
9.a: Karol Ribeiro (BRA) – 1.505
10.a: Lorena Fica (CHL) – 1.490