Melanie Bartels of Wai'anae won the Billabong Girls Pro Rio women's surfing contest today.

Bartels, 26, defeated former world champion Sofia Mulanovich in the one-on-one final, 14.34-10.6. The final day of the contest was run in clean 2- to 4-foot waves at Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"It¹s an amazing feeling and I'm just overwhelmed right now," Bartels said. "My last win was in 2006 as a wildcard at Sunset so to be able to come out on top today, in these conditions, is really special. The waves started to deteriorate towards the end, but I was able to grab a couple of scores against Sofia (Mulanovich) and I was really just surfing my own heat out there and doing my own thing. I was having fun."

Earlier in the day, Bartels had a near-perfect heat to defeat current world champion Stephanie Gilmore of Australia in the semifinals. Bartels received scores of 9.67 (out of 10) and 9.33 for two long barrel rides in the semifinals.

Bartels received $12,000 for the victory and moved up from No. 14 to No. 6 in the 2008 Women's World Tour ratings. The contest was the fourth of eight stops on the 2008 tour.