The crowning of a new women’s champion at the world surfing event on the Gold Coast will have to wait after organisers called off the action on Wednesday afternoon.

Defending champion Tyler Wright was knocked out in Wednesday morning’s quarter-finals, beaten by South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag.

But with a blockbuster semi-final looming between Stephanie Gilmore and world champion Carissa Moore, a decision was made to postpone the action until at least Thursday.

Australia’s five-time world champion breezed through her quarter-final in one-metre swell, scoring 15.43 out of 20 to eliminate American Courtney Conlogue.

American Moore, who scored a near-perfect 19.50 in Tuesday’s third-round action, could only manage 10.33 in her quarter-final but it was enough to beat compatriot Malia Manuel (7.00) and move into the last four.

Gilmore said her hometown knowledge had proved crucial to overcome the fourth-ranked Conlogue.

“Definitely a little bit of local knowledge paid off there,” Gilmore said.

“I got my two really good waves under Courtney’s priority and she actually got her best ride under my priority so when she did that I thought ‘get rid of priority and get busy on the inside’.

“Worked out good.”

The other semi-final will be between Buitendag and American Lakey Peterson.

Peterson reached the last four by knocking out NSW surfer Sally Fitzgibbons in a disappointing end for the tournament for last year’s runner-up.

A call on whether the event will resume will be made on Thursday morning at 7am AEST.