It’s make or break for Aussie icon Sally Fitzgibbons when the World Surf League Margaret River Pro resumes

Australian surfing icon Sally Fitzgibbons faces a make or break day at the Margaret River Pro, with the mid-season cut looming large ahead of a likely resumption of competition on Tuesday. Veteran Fitzgibbons needs a deep run into finals day at the fifth event of the season, and other results to fall her way, just to scrape above the top 10 cut-line and avoid falling off the World Surf League championship tour for a third successive year. And after a heartbreaking opening round defeat at Main Break on Saturday, she will start her bid in an elimination round heat against Hawaii’s Bettylou Sakura Johnson and local qualifier Willow Hardy. Fitzgibbons looked set to finish second in her opening heat before fellow Australian Isabella Nichols caught a wave with five seconds remaining, posting a 4.57 score that bumped her to third and the elimination round by just 0.23 of a point. After her runner-up finish at the Gold Coast Pro earlier this month, the 32-year-old spoke passionately about her desire to continue competing and even moving up one place in the rankings from her current 15th would help with the top 14 women’s automatically qualifying for next season’s expanded women’s field without having to fight through the challenger series. “It’s been a fight and a grind the last few years, but I really want to be here and my deep desire is to keep surfing for this country,” Fitzgibbons, a 12-time CT winner and three-time world title runner-up, said after the Gold Coast Pro earlier this month. Increasing swell is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday with 6-8ft conditions at Main Break and the chance of heats being run at nearby slab wave The Box. The next call will be made at 7am on Tuesday. “We decided to wait for the next swell, which looks like it’s going to be this coming Tuesday,” WSL deputy commissioner Renato Hickel said on Sunday when announcing a two-day pause. “Potentially a really big powerful swell with the chance for running heats at The Box, so fingers crossed.” In the men’s draw, qualifier Jacob Willcox will be hoping for a better heat in his home conditions after struggling to find the right waves in his opening round loss. The local favourite will face fellow Aussie Ryan Callinan and Barron Mamiya of Hawaii for the chance to advance to the round-of-32.