The 18-year-old reached the semi-finals of the second Australasian pro junior of the year by beating Port Macquarie’s Matt Banting to set up a man-on-man showdown with Burleigh Heads rider Thomas Woods.

Sylvester led early in the semi-final after six- and seven-point rides, but Woods prevailed late with a two-wave score of 15.

‘‘I was stoked as I had a couple of hard heats along the way,’’ Sylvester said yesterday.

‘‘Matt Banting had been the form surfer, so I knew that was going to be tough but I got past him.

‘‘This afternoon I was bit unlucky against Thomas Woods.

‘‘I was a bit disappointed, but at the same time I’m really happy to get to the semis.’’

Sylvester earned $2250 and valuable ratings points for finishing third in the $30,000 five-star event.

Sylvester was ranked 16th heading into the Gold Coast event after reaching the quarter-finals in the opening leg of the junior series at Bells Beach.

Yesterday’s result could propel Sylvester to as high as sixth.

‘‘It’s a really big event for the junior series and is one of the highest ratings in the series, so it’s definitely going to give me a boost in the ratings,’’ he said.

At North Stradbroke Island Sylvester benefited from the coaching of Surfing Australia who offered him a scholarship for its high-performance centre at Casuarina, on the NSW far north coast, three weeks ago.

Seven of the best junior men’s surfers in Australia were inducted into the program, which involves attending training camps and the assistance of elite coaches before and during events.

A week before the North Stradbroke Island contest Sylvester attended an induction day at Casuarina.

‘‘We get to use the facilities up there and the coaches will be at most of the events helping us out with strategies,’’ he said.

Sylvester will meet up with Surfing Australia coaches on Thursday to begin preparations for the next pro junior at Manly starting on Saturday, which is part of the inaugural Australian Open of Surfing.

After his performance yesterday the natural-footer is high in confidence.

‘‘The last time I went this far was last year’s Surfest pro junior, when I won the final. Since then I’ve had a hard time making it past the quarter-finals, so it’s good to break past that,’’ he said.

‘‘Hopefully I can go one better at Manly next week.

‘‘I’m staying strong and consistent, which is what you want to do throughout the year, but it would be good to get my name on a trophy.’’