The world’s best female surfers returned to the Snapper Rocks lineup for Round 2 of the Roxy Pro Gold Coast presented by Land Rover this morning, continuing to push the boundaries of high-performance surfing in front of a capacity crowd on the beach.

Laura Enever (AUS), 20, 2012 ASP Top 17 sophomore and Semifinalist at last year’s Roxy Pro Gold Coast, advanced to Round 3 this morning after a close heat against Jacqueline Silva (BRA), 32. Both surfers struggled to find a good score early in the heat but built up the momentum with exciting exchanges towards the finish.

“Jacqueline (Silva) is an amazing surfer and a veteran on tour so she’s really wise and know what she’s doing out there so you can’t count her out,” Enever said. “I just tried to stay calm and ended up finding a good one at the end and it worked out. When I lost yesterday I was a bit bummed, but I just took it as a positive that I get to surf Snapper one more time and feel my board out and now I’m looking forward to the next round.”

Lakey Peterson (USA), 17, 2012 ASP Women’s World Championship Tour rookie bounced back from a Round 1 loss yesterday, by defeating Pauline Ado (FRA), 21, in this morning’s Round 2. Peterson caught one of the best looking waves of the day and launched into a series of carving turns and was rewarded with a 9.00 (out of a possible 10) by the judges.

“I’ve been looking forward getting here to the Gold Coast for quite some time since I qualified,” Peterson said. “We’ve had a few months off, I’ve been getting ready and training for this. The waves are fun and the sun came out today, and the crowd is amazing. I’m just so happy to be here surfing against my heroes, these girls are so much fun to surf against because it makes me surf better.”

Silvana Lima (BRA), 27, posted the highest heat total of the day to send trials’ winner Philippa Anderson (AUS), 19, home with an equal 13th place finish and USD$4,500.

“I’m so happy about that 9-point-ride!” Lima said. “I’ve had problems with my knee lately, but I just tried to forget about it. So I went out there and surf for me and all of Brazil and now I don’t feel any pain in my knee!”

Sarah Mason (NZL), 16, caused the upset of the event thus far eliminating Coco Ho (HAW), 20, after opening the heat with a score in the excellent range. Mason has been living on the Gold Coast for the past few years and put her local knowledge to good use against the last year’s ASP Women’s World No. 6.

“I was really excited for that heat because the waves looked so fun!” Mason said. “I just knew if I could get the right waves I could get some scores. I just tried to catch the best waves and was really trying to enjoy surfing Snapper with just one other person out.”

Event organisers will reconvene at 6:30am to access conditions for a possible 7:30am start.

Today’s highlights available via www.quiksilverlive.com/progoldcoast/2012