Pair in hunt in Tahiti

BIG fourth-round match-ups await Lennox Head surfers Adam Melling and Owen Wright, while Byron Bay’s Keiren Perrow has been eliminated from the Billabong Pro in Tahiti.

The famed and feared Teahupoo break has put a dint in the career of Perrow with the 33-year-old punted from the ASP tour for 2011 after falling out of the top 32 in the world.

While Perrow was ousted by South African Travis Logie in the second round, Melling and Wright are in the final 16.

Conditions permitting today, Melling will take on three-time Teahupoo winner Kelly Slater while Wright faces Hawaiian Fredrick Patacchia for a spot in the quarter-finals.

World No 1 Jordy Smith was eliminated in the third round by Von Zipper trials winning local Manoa Drollet.

Others still in the chase are 2002 champion Andy Irons, 2004 winner CJ Hopgood and Queenslander Mick Fanning.

Surfline, official forecasters for the Billabong Pro, are predicting a small mix of south and south-west swell to prevail for the contest to resume today.