Tyler Wright secured the Roxy Pro, beating Sally Fitzgibbons in the final, on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Gerroa surfer Sally Fitzgibbons has vowed not to dwell on her surprising loss to teenager Tyler Wright in Saturday's final of the Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast.
The world No 2 had one hand on the trophy after dominating for most of the final, but Wright defiantly hit back with a stunning ride in the dying seconds, scoring a whopping 9.20 from a possible 10 from the judges.
That pushed the 18-year-old from Culburra past Fitzgibbons, whose combined total of 16.66 was short of Wright's 17.97.
Fitzgibbons has been a world championship runner-up for the past three years and is determined to break through for her maiden crown in 2013.
The 22-year-old was disappointed to lose Saturday's final after being in such a strong position and is hoping for a better result in next week's second world tour event - the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia.
"It's a hard one to swallow when you lose like that," Fitzgibbons said.
"Not the result I wanted, but still a strong start for me so I'll just regroup and focus on the next one.
"Tyler is a very deserving winner. She's such a strong surfer and she trains really hard. It was a great battle and she pulled it out on that final wave, so congrats to her."
Wright, now based at Lennox Head, knocked out reigning world champion Stephanie Gilmore in the semi-final and looms as the tour's big improver this season.
She signalled her arrival on the pro surfing scene when she won the 2008 Beachley Classic as a 14-year-old wildcard and went on to be voted 2011 rookie of the year on the world tour.
Of her performance at Snapper Rocks, Wright said: "It's huge. Frigging massive actually. The world [number] one and two are the hardest girls to beat and I'm just really happy with how the day panned out."
Fitzgibbons advanced to a showdown with Wright after comfortably accounting for Carissa Moore in the other semi-final.
"It was tough out there," 2011 world champion Moore said.
"I definitely didn't pick the right waves and there weren't that many to begin with. Semi-finals is a good result to start the year and I'll look to build upon that over the course of the next few events."
In the men's, world champion Joel Parkinson's title defence went from strength to strength after a huge weekend at the season-opening event.
Faced with two sudden-death elimination heats after his first round hiccup, Parkinson moved into the fourth round yesterday after a showdown with American wildcard Dane Reynolds.
The pair traded blows in the final heat of a massive day at Snapper Rocks, Parkinson emerging victorious thanks to a monster 9.87 ride which boosted him to a score of 16.04 out of 20 and victory.
It capped a big day for Parkinson in the competition as his side of the draw opened up when Hawaiian youngster John John Florence, the fourth seed for the event, withdrew due to an ankle injury sustained on Saturday.
It means the 32-year-old's main opposition on the path to the final is defending event champion Taj Burrow with rivals Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning on the opposite side of the draw.
Burrow is also into the fourth round after overcoming talented Brazilian rookie Filipe Toledo in a tight third-round match-up.