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Eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore is into the last-eight at the Tahiti Pro as she chases an event win to maintain her World Surf League finals hopes.

Stephanie Gilmore's World Surf League (WSL) title defence remains alive following a dramatic opening day of the Tahiti Pro - but she still needs a big helping hand from a fellow Aussie.

Gilmore entered stop No.10 on the tour ranked seventh in the world, meaning she required a huge result in order to jump above sixth-placed Lakey Peterson and Caitlin Simmers, in fifth, to make the end-of-season finals.

Her hopes were dealt a massive early blow on Saturday when Simmers won her opening heat to catapult herself into the quarter-finals.

Even if Simmers loses her last-eight showdown against Australia's Molly Picklum, Gilmore will need to win the Tahiti Pro to jump the American in the world rankings.

If Simmers progresses to the semi-finals, Gilmore's WSL finals hopes are over.

Gilmore's title defence was on life support on Saturday morning after she finished second in her opening-round heat, forcing her into an elimination battle against Peterson.

With everything on the line, Gilmore could only muster a two-wave tally of 4.60 but it proved to be just enough in the tricky conditions, with Peterson only able to cobble together 3.77.

The result kept Gilmore's finals hopes alive.

"It was really scrappy," Gilmore told the WSL broadcast.

"There was a lot on the line for both of us.

"I wasn't expecting to win that heat, I had such low scores. But a win's a win, and I'll take it."

World No.2 Tyler Wright provisionally qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics after booking a quarter-final showdown against Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb.

"That's cool. A lot of work has gone into that," the star Australian said.

The Olympic event will also be held at Tahiti's Teahupo'o, and Wright spoke about the challenge of taming the massive reef break after surviving her elimination second round.

"With Teahupo'o, it's hard and there's so many emotions," Wright said.

"I had to be honest with myself about how scared I actually am here, and really peel the layers back.

"Today's not massive, but there is still a certain amount of risk."

On the men's side of the draw, Australia's Jack Robinson kept his finals hopes alive with a dominant opening-round performance.

Robinson, who sits eighth in the standings, produced a two-wave tally of 15.57 to beat fellow Aussies Callum Robson (11.70) and Connor O'Leary (11.33).

With Filipe Toledo, Ethan Ewing and Griffin Colapinto having already secured berths in the end-of-season finals, there are just two more spots up for grabs.

An opening-round win in Tahiti to world No.5 Yago Dora means Robinson will now need to make the final in order to have any chance of sneaking in.

Opening-round wins to world No.7 John John Florence and No.6 Gabriel Medina further complicates matters for Robinson.

However, if world No.2 Ewing is unable to compete at the end-of-season finals, it would open the door for the sixth-placed finisher to take his spot.

Ewing suffered a broken back in the lead-up to the Tahiti Pro and has since flown back to Australia to undergo further tests.