Seven-time surfing world champion Stephanie Gilmore is through to the quarter-finals at G-Land in Indonesia, but Tyler Wright and Sally Fitzgibbons will have to do things the hard way.
Fitzgibbons (9.30) finished a distant last in her three-person first-round heat on Saturday against five-time world champion Carissa Moore (17.16) and Gabriela Bryan (15.04).
Wright will also have to negotiate her way through the elimination round despite finishing second in her three-person heat against Brazilian Tatiana Weston-Webb and Lakey Peterson.
Normally, the top two surfers from each round-one heat would skip the elimination round.
But with the mid-season cut having been enacted, only the top-ranked surfer from each round-one heat secures direct passage into round three, which is now the quarter-final stage in the women's draw given there are only 12 surfers competing.
Wright will take on West Australian Bronte Macaulay in the elimination round, while Fitzgibbons faces Isabella Nichols in another all-Australian match-up.
Courtney Conlogue and Johanne Defay were other notable names who failed to progress straight to the quarters.
Gilmore secured a last eight berth after edging Conlogue and Nicholls in a thrilling contest.
Conlogue needed a 4.73 to take the lead in the dying stages, but she could only get a 3.93 on her final wave.
Nichols needed a 5.24 to shoot to first and she produced a stunning ride at the death.
But the wave didn't count given she stood up two seconds after the final hooter had sounded.
"I couldn't really hear much out there and thought I was in third," Gilmore said.
"I thought I'd just enjoy being out there not knowing what was going on and just come in and get the result old-school style.
"Then when I was paddling in I heard the score and was really happy. That was a really big win for me as my backhand isn't my strong point and I really want to get a solid result here."
In the men's draw, Australians Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing won their respective heats, with two-time world champion John John Florence, Brazilian Italo Ferreira, and American Griffin Colapinto among the others to make it through.
Brazilian Filipe Toledo and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater were among the big names who have been consigned to the elimination round.
