Junior Pro Taghazout Bay heat wins went to Simões, Nalesso Blanco and Pereira Melendez
NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 11, 2026
Opening rounds
Junior Pro Taghazout Bay opened at Anchor Point in Taghazout Bay, Morocco, with the first rounds in both the men’s and women’s draws completed in three-to-four-foot surf. The World Surf League Junior Qualifying Series event brought the field into three-to-four-foot surf, and the early heats quickly set the tone for the rest of the contest. France’s Zachary Pommier delivered the strongest men’s heat of the day in the Round of 96, while Portugal’s Manuel Pirujinho produced the top single-wave score. France’s Jay Phipps also moved through with a solid total, giving the men’s side an early mix of pace and quality as the opening heats played out. The results offered a first look at who handled the conditions best and who made the quickest transition to the Taghazout Bay lineup. With both divisions underway, the event established a clear standard from the start and gave several surfers a strong platform heading deeper into the draw.
Women’s winners
Portugal and Italy both put surfers on the right side of the women’s draw as Simões, Nalesso Blanco and Pereira Melendez each won her heat. Those results gave the women’s competition an early spread of winners from across Europe and kept the first round moving with clean, decisive performances. Simões, representing Portugal, handled her heat to move on, and Nalesso Blanco followed with a win for Italy. Pereira Melendez, another Portuguese surfer, added a third heat victory for the country and strengthened Portugal’s early showing in the event. The women’s opening action did not need a high volume of scores to tell the story. The heat wins alone showed which surfers adapted fastest to the conditions at Anchor Point and which ones opened the event with control and confidence. As the rounds progressed, those victories became the clearest markers from the women’s side of the draw, setting up the next stage of competition with three surfers already through on winning efforts.
Men’s highlights
The men’s side produced the day’s best numbers, led by Pommier’s 12.00 heat total in the Round of 96. That score stood as the top heat total of the opening day and gave France the headline performance in the men’s draw. Pirujinho of Portugal put up the best single-wave score of the day with a 6.73, a mark that stood out in the opening day. Phipps added another strong result for France, advancing with an 11.33 total. Together, those performances defined the early pace of the men’s event and showed how small margins could separate the best heats from the rest of the field. The competition was scheduled to keep moving, with the next call set for 7 a.m. GMT. That left the event in motion and the opening-day leaders in position to build on their starts as Junior Pro Taghazout Bay continued.
