Local wild-card Bronte Macaulay will have to survive the elimination round to continue her run of three consecutive semifinals at the Margaret River Pro after going down to world No.1 Caitlin Simmers and another American teenager Sawyer Lindblad in their opening heat.

Simmers (11.57 total), 18, joined fellow contenders including Australia’s Molly Picklum and Tyler Wright, reigning world champion Caroline Marks and world No.5 Bettylou Sakura Johnson in making it through to the round of 16.

But not before a lull that saw no waves surfed for more than 25 minutes and the heat come within 30 seconds of a second restart to extend its length.

“We were kind of just laughing out there,” Simmers said. “I was telling Sawyer she jinked it because she said at the beginning, ‘good waves out here’ and I was like, ‘hopefully’. When we almost got to that second restart I was like, ‘this is your fault’.

“I’ve never had a heat that long. It was pretty trippy, we were all saying we were super stiff, I was trying wiggle around on my board, so it was interesting.”

Both Lindblad and Macaulay only had one scoring wave each with two minutes remaining before a late set gave them both an opportunity to post a score. Lindblad made two nice turns and received a 7.00 to finish with a 11.00 total and edge Macaulay’s 6.73 for a total of 10.96.

“It’s a bit disappointing, it was really inconsistent out there and actually quite cold so I didn’t really surf the waves that well but that’s alright, I get to surf again,” Macaulay said.

“I just need to get two good waves and keep it pretty simple. It’s OK it’s good for me to surf heats and get an extra one under my belt. I feel like I didn’t surf my last wave that well, I was quite stiff, I probably need a better wetsuit because it’s cold out there.”

Earlier, Picklum (11.33) jumped out of the gates in her opening heat against America’s Alyssa Spencer (10.66) and Brazil’s Luana Silva (8.67). The Australian world No.3 is looking to bounce back in Margaret River after back-to-back ninth-place finishes at her previous two starts.

“It was a little bit slow out for sure there but conditions are clean and you have just go to make it do,” she said. “I’m really happy to have made it (though to the next round).”

But current No.2 in the rankings Johanne Defay (9.57) will join Macaulay in the elimination round after finishing last in her opening heat against Lakey Peterson (10.73) and Sophie McCulloch (9.60). Defay went left for a two-turn ride with just over five minutes remaining and scored a 4.57 but needed a 4.61 to advance.

Australian veteran Fitzgibbons (11.57), fighting to avoid the mid-season cut, also slipped into the elimination round after going down narrowly to Sakura Johnson (12.33) and Wright (11.83).

The day was called off at end of the women’s opening round. The men’s competition is yet to start.

Margaret River Pro women’s opening round heats (top two in each heat advance to the round of 16)

HEAT 1: Molly Picklum 11.33 (6.50, 4.83), Alyssa Spencer 10.66 (6.33, 4.33), Luana Silva 8.67 (4.17, 4.50)

HEAT 2: Lakey Peterson 10.73 (6.00, 4.73), Sophie McCulloch 9.60 (3.93, 6.97), Johanne Defay 9.57 (5.00, 4.57)

HEAT 3: Caitlin Simmers 11.57 (6.00, 5.57), Sawyer Lindblad 11.00 (4.00, 7.00), Bronte Macaulay 10.96 (4.23, 6.73)

HEAT 4: Gabriela Bryan 10.90 (5.63, 5.27), Caroline Marks 10.67 (5.87, 4.80), India Robinson 10.37 (6.17, 4.20)

HEAT 5: Bettylou Sakura Johnson 12.33 (5.33, 7.00), Tyler Wright 11.83 (5.90, 5.93), Sally Fitzgibbons 11.57 (5.80, 5.77)

HEAT 6: Isabella Nichols 10.34 (6.67, 3.67), Tatiana Weston-Webb 9.10 (5.33, 3.77), Brisa Hennessy 8.60 (4.43, 4.17)