Surfing-Brooks takes three-peat at Trestles Pro; Pupo claims men's win for Brazil

Sept 18 : Canadian teenage surfing phenomenon Erin Brooks claimed her third straight world championship tour event on Friday with a win at the Trestles Pro, while Brazil's Miguel Pupo took out Japan's Kanoa Igarashi for his second win of the year.

Identified early as a potential world champion, the 19-year-old Brooks struggled in the first six events of her sophomore season, failing to make it out of the second round. But a spectacular performance saw her claim a win in the heaving barrels of Tahiti, and she backed it up at another powerful South Pacific reef break to triumph at the Fiji Pro just a couple of weeks later.

Lower Trestles, the surfing venue for the 2028 LA Olympics, is a very different kind of wave but one of the best in the sport's commercial homeland of Southern California and the cobblestone peak delivered high-performance, head-high waves for the finals.

After taking out five-times world champion Carissa Moore in their quarterfinal and Australia's reigning world champion Molly Picklum in the semifinal, Brooks got off to a strong start in the final against world No. 1 Gabriela Bryan, scoring 7.0 out of 10 for a series of sharp, accurate turns on her backhand.

Bryan keep herself in the contest with a 6.33 with some trademark powerful gouges on her forehand and backed it up with a 5.57 for a 11.90 total. But Brooks looked in control throughout, holding the lead after a second mid-range score and sealing the deal with another well-surfed right-hander as the clock wound down for a 6.0 and a 13-point total.

"The first part of the year was such a bummer, but this makes it worth it. So many hard heats just made me want to work even harder and now I've gotten to this point and I want to keep going," Brooks said after