Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbons got her tactics spot on to defeat defending event champion Hawaiian Carissa Moore in the final of the Subaru Pro at New Plymouth's Back Beach today (April 30) and go top of the ASP rankings. Fitzgibbons chose to head to the right of the competition arena where she recorded two 8.0 waves for a combined score of 16, while Moore began on the left but could only record one wave of note, a 6.63, for a combined total of 6.86. The Gerroa, NSW surfer has been the form surfer all week scoring an amazing five scores over 8.0 in one heat earlier in the TSB Bank Women's Surf Festival and a the highest combined wave score of 19.0.

The 20-year-old pockets $US15,000 and 10,000 competiton points for her victory and is now No 1 in the ASP rankings on 26,500, 500 ahead of Moore and 6800 ahead of Tyler Wright in third. The Australian said the decision to head out to the right of the course was risky but was one that had paid off.

"The waves today were pretty challenging . . . yesterday in the smaller conditions it was actually a little easier to read and it held the bank on the far side, but today there was a pick up in swell, which is good, but as the tide ran out it got a little messy with a lot of close outs and I guess I just picked the eyes out of it," Fitzgibbons said.

"So as I entered the water and I saw a little peak out the back. It was a bit risky but it's paid off this time and I thought I'm in the final and I just wanted to go for so I thought that's where I was going to surf."

Fitzgibbons, who was second at the inaugural ASP event in New Zealand last year, said getting up for the win this year was the icing on the cake of a fantastic week.

 "It means absolutely the world I'm just so stoked to get a win New Zealand. I loved coming here last year and I got the runner-up and making the final again I was just happy with that performance," she said.

"To take the win is just extra special. It reminds me of home the countryside meets the sea vibe. To have my best friends here and my friends on the tour chair me up the beach just means so much."

Fitzgibbons won the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Victoria last week and now must be the hot favourite for the Commonwealth  Bank Beachley Classic at Dee Why in Sydney's northern beaches.