Defending champion Mick Fanning had a rare loss to South African Jordy Smith at Bells Beach, forcing the Australian surfing star into another elimination round.

Smith, who has finished third at the Rip Curl Pro three times, overcame a couple of mistakes in their round-four heat to reach the quarter-finals.

While Fanning’s 9.0 was the highest wave score of their heat, Smith was more consistent and won with 15.97.

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Fanning (15.17), a three-time winner at Bells, and American Nat Young (13.96) were sent into the fifth round eliminators.

Fanning also lost his first-round heat last week, but had recovered to dominate in round three earlier on Easter Monday before losing to Smith.

“It’s great making the quarters – Mick has beaten me out here so many times,” Smith said.

“It’s super frustrating, to be honest.

“But he knows the wave really well … I just have to do my thing and focus on what I do best.”

Round four late on Monday was marked by tight wins, with Owen Wright (15.97) edging out Joel Parkinson (15.70) ahead of fellow Australian Josh Kerr (12.43).

Brazilian Adriano de Souza, who won at Bells two years ago, had the highest men’s wave score of the day, a 9.63.

That helped him beat American legend Kelly Slater 17.46 to 15.93 in their round-four heat, with Australian Josh Kerr third on 12.43.

Slater will now face reigning world champion Gabriel Medina in what is sure to be an epic fifth round eliminator.