Stephanie Gilmore reaches her first WSL semi-final at this year’s Swatch Women’s Pro

STEPHANIE Gilmore admits a seventh world crown may be out of reach but after getting to the semi-finals of a WSL event for the first time this year she hasn’t ruled it out completely.

Stephanie Gilmore has progressed into the semi-final of a WSL event for the first time this year. Picture: Sean Rowland, AAP.

STEPHANIE Gilmore admits a seventh world crown may be out of reach but after getting to the semi-finals of a WSL event for the first time this year she hasn’t ruled it out completely.

The Gold Coast surfer took down reigning world champion Carrisa Moore and ­Courtney Conlogue, ranked No.2 on the tour, to book her place in today’s semi-finals of the Swatch Women’s Pro at Lower Trestles.

Gilmore entered the fourth last stop of the tour ranked seventh in the world, 14,150 points behind leader Tyler Wright with a potential 40,000 points still up for grabs.

The six-time world ­champion said it could have been the stimulus behind her resurgence.

“I looked at my ranking and seventh is kind of an ­uncomfortable position to be in,” Gilmore said. “I thought about that and maybe that’s what kicked me into gear.

“To see Courtney go out is good for Tyler (Wright) but we are all here for one thing and I really want to win.

“That’s what I want to try to do this week and we’ll see what happens but I’d love to just keep going up the rankings.

“I’m not sure if the world title is really in reach for me but we will see.”

In the men’s event, fellow Gold Coast surfer Joel Parkinson has also progressed through to the semi-final where he is set to compete against Tanner Gudauskas.

Gilmore will face Australian Nikki Van Dijk in the semi-final and if she is successful the 28-year-old will take on either Sage Erickson or Wright.

Gilmore admitted her lack of results and winless year so far had played on her mind going into the quarter-final.

“I was actually really nervous going into that (quarter-final) because of the quarter-final thing,” Gilmore said.

“I just haven’t got past it in a while and I haven’t won an event for a while so you tend to think about that sort of stuff a lot.

“I just tried to go out there and do what I know how to do. I’m just happy to get past that quarter-final and get that monkey off my back.”

On a day when competition was temporarily put on hold due to a shark sighting, Gilmore produced scores of 7.43 and 7.23 to beat Conlogue 14.66 to 12.90 in Round 4.

Gilmore took it to another level against long-time rival Moore in the quarter-final, locking in scores of 8.00 and 8.10 to beat the Hawaiin 16.10 to 10.33.

It was the first time Gilmore had beaten Moore in a head-to-head heat since Gold Coast in 2014 when the former won the semi-final before taking out the Roxy Pro.