Australian Ethan Ewing has secured his spot in the season-ending World Surf League finals, but Jack Robinson's hopes of snaring the world No.1 ranking were brought undone by fellow Australian Nathan Hedge.
Ewing entered Teahupo'o ranked third in the world, and his victory over Michel Bourez in the elimination round on Friday booked his spot in the top-five for the title fight in California next month.
World No.2 Robinson had already secured his spot in the finals, and he had a golden chance to snare top seeding for California when world No.1 Filipe Toledo suffered a shock loss to 43-year-old Australian wildcard Nathan Hedge in the elimination round at Teahupo'o.
Robinson needed to make the final in Tahiti in order to leapfrog Toledo into the No.1 ranking.
But Hedge, who was a fixture on the world tour in the early 2000s, followed up his win over Toledo by bucking the odds against Robinson in a high-quality battle.
Robinson looked to have the round of 16 contest in the bag after posting scores of 9.1 and 8.5 for a two-wave total of 17.6.
But Hedge pulled off two huge barrels in the dying minutes to snatch victory.
His first - when he looked certain to wipe out on his drop before balancing and shooting out with the spray - earned him a score of 9.87 from the judges.
He followed it up with an 8.43 barrel ride to snatch the victory and secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
"At the start of the heat, Jack really showed me what was up and he paddled behind me for one," Hedge told the WSL broadcast.
"The only person who has ever done that to me was Andy (Irons) out here early on in the piece. I just went, 'he's gnarly'.
"I had to get through that. I had given him too much space. It was a fair bit to get through mentally.
"I was in a corner, but I just kept believing. I kept holding on to the faith."
Australian Connor O'Leary's hopes of snaring a spot in the season-ending finals were ended by 11-time world champion Kelly Slater.
O'Leary, ranked ninth in the world, would have needed to win in Tahiti in order to have a chance to sneak into fifth spot.
The 28-year-old put up a good fight against Slater, but he fell just 0.18 short of the score he needed on his final ride.
"Man, that last wave he got .... I saw it spit, I heard people freak out, so at that point I thought I might need another score," Kelly said.
Ewing's hopes of winning in Tahiti came undone when he was beaten in the round of 16 by Kauli Vaast.
Brazil's Italo Ferreira, who was knocked out in the elimination round, and Japan's Kanoa Igarashi, who made it through to the quarterfinals, were the last two surfers to lock in their top]five berths for the season-ending finals.
