Jack Robinson on fire in Hawaii where Ethan Ewing took down Kelly Slater

Even though he’s 52, the sight of Kelly Slater’s name as his opponent in Hawaii for the second time in two events was enough to make Aussie gun Ethan Ewing nervous.

Ewing was able to dispel those nerves at Sunset Beach and take down the GOAT for the second time in two events but it proved the best the 25-year-old could do as he was beaten by countryman Liam O’Brien who is one of three Aussies left in the event after a wild and windy Sunday surf session.

O’Brien will go head-to-head with fellow Aussie Ryan Callinan in the quarter-finals with Jack Robinson also progressing, despite feeling queasy after a few wipeouts in the tough conditions.

“It’s one of the hardest heats I’ve surfed in a long time and I just felt like I was going to spew the whole heat,” Robinson said after progressing.

“I had so many wipeouts in the heat before, and I had a bunch of snacks and bunched them all together and I was spewing up a little bit every time I paddled out.

“But this is what I live for.”

For Ewing, it was the second win over Slater in two events this year, but came with some nervous moments as Slater had last crack in their dual but couldn’t grab the score he needed to advance

“They took a while to score and I wasn’t exactly sure what the score was that he needed,” Ewing said.

“I saw it (the wave) from behind and I was super stressed out.”

“As soon as I saw the match-up I was pretty excited but also super nervous because he just pulls stuff out of his hat pretty easy and he’s the GOAT but I was happy to go up against him again, he’s a legend.

“That was one of the hardest sessions I’ve had out there

“You need to have low expectations as you can get stuck out there looking for a perfect wave and there’s not many out there so you’ve got to keep the ball rolling.”

The event is expected to resume on Tuesday withe the women’s event yet to get underway.