Yago Dora threw down a perfect 10 at Manu Bay on Sunday, landing a full-rotation aerial with about two seconds of hang time to beat Cole Houshmand and keep his World Surf League title run alive at the New Zealand Pro.

The 26-year-old needed a 9.50-point ride with little more than three minutes left on the clock, and answered with the kind of maneuver that turns a heat in an instant. Five judges gave Dora the perfect score, pushing him through to a semi-final showdown with Italo Ferreira after he beat Miguel Pupo with a memorable aerial of his own. Dora said afterward he felt great, that he had been praying for an opportunity and just needed one wave to go for it. When it came, he said he saw the pocket forming, sent it all the way to the flats and stuck it cleanly.

Dora’s wave was not just the decisive score of the day. It was described as one of the best aerials in World Surf League history, a leap that fit the pressure of a contest where the margin for error was already gone. The defending world champion had been waiting for the right set, and when it arrived he made it count in front of a field that had already been narrowed to the sport’s sharpest surfers.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Morgan Cibilic booked his place in the New Zealand Pro semi-finals with another last-gasp finish against Houshmand. He needed 7.90 to win and got an 8.0 on the wave that decided the heat. Cibilic said afterward that nothing had been going his way, calling the heat an absolute shocker before the winning ride. He added that it was the wave he had been searching for all heat, and that once he stood up, his eyes rolled back and he went to work to get the job done. His reward is a semi-final against Griffin Colapinto, who defeated Filipe Toledo.

The women’s draw delivered its own late drama. Sawyer Lindblad edged Alyssa Spencer by 0.03 in the semi-finals, while Carissa Moore posted 19.00 against Bettylou Sakura Johnson’s 13.70 to reach the final. The women’s final and the rest of the men’s competition were scheduled for Monday at Manu Bay, leaving the event set up for a closing day with titles and final places still on the line.

For Dora, the next heat carries a different kind of weight. The perfect 10 already gave him a moment that will travel far beyond Sunday, but Monday is where the New Zealand Pro asks for something simpler and harder: one more wave, one more clean landing, one more score that keeps the heat from slipping away.