Perth local defeats Stephanie Gilmore in Margaret River Pro opener LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Felicity Palmateer styles her way to a round one World Championship Tour win at the 2013 Telstra Drug Aware Pro at Margaret River. Picture: ASP / Robertson Source: PerthNow UNKNOWN Australian surfer Felicity Palmateer caused a big upset by beating world champion Stephanie Gilmore in round one of the Margaret River Pro. In this year's event, the women's division is upgraded from an ASP 6-star event to be the second elite ASP women's world championship tour event of the 2013 season. Palmateer won the trials in solid surf on Friday and the Perth inhabitant used her local knowledge of the waves in south west WA to progress straight to round three and send reigning five-time ASP women's world champion Gilmore into an elimination round two. "I've been a huge fan of Steph's surfing for a long time," Palmateer said. I had a bit of a shaky start and I didn't have a lot of confidence and then I got that great left, and then I was ready to go. Yesterday, the surf was about three times bigger than today and I got a couple of floggings, so I felt really confident out there today. It's pretty much my home break and I really feel the support from everyone around here. Sally Fitzgibbons came exploding out of the gates in round one, posting two excellent nine-point rides. Tyler Wright, who took out last week's season-opening ASP Women's WCT event on the Gold Coast, advanced through her opening heat despite suffering a head cold and hurting her neck when she wiped out early in the heat. "I'm not doing too good at the moment," Wright said. I got absolutely smoked on my first wave and I hurt my neck. Luckily, I won the heat so I can skip round two and rest for a day or two because I've got a head cold too. It really sucks but, yeah, I'm happy to be at this event.