Mick Fanning produced a spectacular ride in the dying minutes of his quarter-final to secure the 2013 world title at the Pipe Masters Hawaii on Sunday (AEDT).

Fanning trailed fellow Australian Yadin Nicol 16.9 to 9.53 when he dropped in sharply on a wave with 90 seconds remaining.

He cut back hard and produced an almost perfect ride of 9.7 to secure the heat and his third ASP world championship.

The new champ was mobbed when he returned to shore as everyone waited anxiously for the five judges to return their scores.

When the final score of 9.7 was revealed, Fanning was lifted on to the shoulders of last year's champion, Joel Parkinson, and burst into tears.

"I just saw the set on the horizon, and I thought 'Alright, whatever's going to come, I'm just going to try and pick the right one'," Fanning said.

"That wave came and it was so beautiful.

"I'm just overwhelmed with emotion right now, it's incredible."

It was the second-straight time Fanning pulled out a victory at the death after only just scraping through his previous heat against CJ Hobgood.

A 9.5-point ride in the last two minutes of his round-five heat kept the now three-time world champion alive earlier in the day.

The Australian was struggling to get a decent wave in four-metre close-outs and needed an eight-point ride to overcome Hobgood.

The last wave stood up and Fanning prevailed 12 points to 10.5 over the American.

All the pressure was on Fanning, with 11-time champion American Kelly Slater breathing down his neck.

But he held his nerve to become just the fifth man to claim three world titles, following in the footsteps of Slater, Tom Curren, Andy Irons and Australian Mark Richards.

He needs one more crown to equal Richards' Australian record of four.

Slater ended up taking out his seventh Pipe Masters title with victory over John John Florence in the final.

Fanning's earlier success meant Slater was out of the running for world title number 12 but he still made sure to finish the season in victorious fashion with a 16.37 to 15.9 victory over Florence.

The 21-year-old Hawaiian had earlier comfortably accounted for Fanning in their semi-final clash.

While Slater took down last year's Pipe and world champion, Queensland's Joel Parkinson.

ABC/AAP