The good news for Maui surfer Ola Eleogram was that he won his second-round heat in the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing yesterday.

The not-so-good news is that, by winning, he advanced into a third-round matchup against eight-time world champion Kelly Slater of Florida.

"He's one of my favorite surfers, for sure," said Eleogram, 20. "But I still have to try and take him out. I'm not going to let him take any wave he wants because he's the champ."

The entire second round and four heats of the third round were completed yesterday in difficult waves that ranged from 6 to 10 feet throughout the day at Sunset Beach.

The O'Neill World Cup is the second event in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

"It was windy out there, so the waves were kind of all over the place," Eleogram said. "But I rather have (the waves) big and weird than small."

Eleogram was one yesterday's standouts, recording a two-wave score of 15.43 (out of 20).

In the third round, Eleogram will be up against Slater, and Sunset Beach surfers Pancho Sullivan and Nathan Carroll. Only two surfers from that four-man heat will advance.

Interestingly, if Eleogram had placed second in his heat yesterday, he would have advanced into a heat against lesser-known surfers Royden Bryson, Ricky Basnett and Kieren Perrow.

"I kind of wish I got second now," Eleogram said with a laugh.

Eleogram was one of nine Hawai'i surfers advancing through yesterday's heats. The others were Nathan Carroll, Evan Valiere, Myles Padaca, Jason Shibata, Kekoa Bacalso, Jesse Merle-Jones, Ian Walsh and Fred Patacchia Jr.

Padaca, a former Triple Crown champion, used his knowledge of Sunset Beach to record a two-wave score of 15.0.

"When it's a little bigger like this, it's a tricky lineup," he said. "There's five or six takeoff spots, so you really have to be familiar with it. But I put in a lot of practice out here, so I feel confident."

Among the Hawai'i surfers advancing, Padaca, Valiere, Walsh and Patacchia won previous contests at Sunset Beach.

"There's not much of an advantage on a day like this," Walsh said. "It could easily go either way for everybody."

Australia's Taj Burrow was proof. He is currently the No. 3-ranked surfer in the world, but was eliminated yesterday after scoring just 4.03 points for his two waves.

Among the Hawai'i surfers eliminated yesterday were former Triple Crown champions Sunny Garcia and Derek Ho.

Slater and defending Triple Crown champion Andy Irons had byes yesterday. Irons won the first Triple Crown event last week at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

The Roxy Pro women's contest did not run heats yesterday. For status of the contests today, call 596-7873 or visit www.triplecrownofsurfing.com.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.