SURFING : Machado Wins Op Pro Title

After five dawn-to-dusk days of competition at the Huntington Beach pier, the Op Pro Surfing championships came down to a familiar rivalry featuring two of America’s best surfers--Rob Machado against Kelly Slater.

And when it was over Sunday before 20,000, Machado, from Cardiff-by-the-Sea, was the victor, scoring seven- and eight-point rides for a final-round score of 29.11, the highest of the meet. Surfers are judged on their four best rides during 30-minute heats.

Slater, from Cocoa Beach, Fla., performed quickly and powerfully in the two- to three-foot surf, but his rides were not as long as Machado’s.

Frieda Zamba, of Flagler Beach, Fla., won the women’s competition. Joel Tudor of San Diego won the longboard division and Kalani Robb of Sunset Beach, Hawaii, won the Op Junior amateur division.