Ewing into J-Bay quarters as surfing finals loom
Sitting fifth in the world rankings, Ewing became the lone Australian to reach the men's quarters at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa as countryman Jack Robinson's finals push was dented in a round-of-16 defeat.
South Africa's world No.1 Jordy Smith was the biggest casualty of the round, taken out by French rookie Marco Mignot in a huge upset.
The women's last eight had already been decided and their quarters will have a strong Australian contingent, with world No.1 Molly Picklum, Tyler Wright and Isabella Nichols in contention.
The competition has been put on hold for two days ahead of the men's and women's events potentially being decided on Wednesday.
The top five in the WSL men's and women's rankings will contest the final at Fiji's Cloudbreak from August 27.
After J-Bay, the tour heads to the fearsome Teahupo'o break in Tahiti - last year's Olympics venue - for round 11, where the finalists will be confirmed.
Ewing beat American Jake Marshall in the lowest-scoring heat of the round of 16 to set up a quarter-final duel with Australian-born Japanese surfer Connor O'Leary, who ousted Brazil's former world champion Italo Ferreira.
Sixth-ranked American Griffin Colapinto won through to the quarters to keep the pressure on Ewing, while Robinson will not improve on his No.7 spot after falling to Italian Leonardo Fioravanti.
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