Slater's speed floater blew him past this section and Ben Dunn. Photo: ASP/Kelly Cestari via Getty Images

After a few very necessary lay days, Round Three of the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro got underway Thursday in much cleaner 4-to-6 foot surf. While the wave at Imbituba is a bit of a burger, the boys did find a few lips to hit had lots of face to carve up. That's exactly what tour leaders Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson did in their heats, as they moved on into the next round. Naturally, all eyes were on Kelly Slater, who, this week, is allegedly still hanging on to his world title hopes.

Slater took care of Ben Dunn riding a 5' 9" epoxy thruster, a copy of the board he rode to victory last year in Australia at Bells. By making it to Round Four, the champ has already locked in his best result of the year, "It's funny, I feel like I just won a contest."

Slater seems happy playing the come-from-behind role for now,"It's either lose and go home or scalp people." He'll be hoping to nab Tom Whitaker's scalp in the next round. As for upsets, the big names to fall today were Jordy Smith and Taylor Knox, both who have been enjoying decent seasons to date.

There are some pretty solid match ups in Round Four, including Timmy Reyes vs. Taj Burrow, Bobby Martinez vs. Dustin Barca, CJ Hobgood vs. Mick Campbell, and Chris Ward vs. Mick Fanning.