Figure skating pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo came out of two-year retirement to shine on the first day of the Cup of China on Friday.

Shen and Zhao, who announced to resume high-level training with the national team last May to prepare for their fourth attempt at the Olympic title in next year's Winter Games in Vancouver, hit a personal best of 72.28 points for their flawless performance to Sarah Brightman's Who Wants to Live Forever, holding a nearly 10 points lead after short program.

Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov from Ukraine were the distant runners-up with 62.95 points before Saturday's free skating, and the reigning world junior champions pair Lubo Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze settled temporarily at the third place with 62.54.

Shen/Zhao had won the first pairs' world title for China in 2002, retained it in 2003 before incurring a string of injuries and lifted again the world trophy in Tokyo in 2007 before they left the national team right after. They had two bronze medals from the Salt Lake City and Turin Olympic Games.

They declined to talk about their expectation toward the Vancouver Olympics, saying "a short program cannot tell much."

"It's a surprisingly good score. We are very satisfied with today's performance, though it's not perfect," commented the 36-year-old Zhao, whose torn Achilles' tendon had cost most of their chances to move up since 2005.

Most favored Chinese pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, however, finished in a disappointing fourth after coming up to the spotlight last and scoring 61.92 on Friday.

The Olympic silver medalists, whose finish in Turin three years ago has been the best ever result for China in a Winter Olympics, could be in danger to make this season's finale if they failed to improve.

According to the world's skating governing body, only top six skaters/couples of the series will proceed to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Tokyo, Japan.

In the ladies short program on Friday, American Mirai Nagasu earned a flying start in her opening show this season.

The 16-year-old led the ladies with 62.20 points for her light-footed jumps and stable spins performing to Pirates of the Caribbean, Fragile Dreams in the short program, and edged former European bronze medalist Kiira Korpi of Finland and twice former champion and last season's runner-up of Europe, Italian Carolina Kostner, to the second and third places respectively.

Nagasu, two-time world junior championship medalist, had injured her ankle and had a significant growth spurt last season when she moved up to the senior level internationally.

Talking about her going international, Nagasu said: "That's because I really want to make the national team. Last season I just sit home at LA watching the world championships, and it's not feeling good."

"This year I just gonna practice more and get what I can," she said.

On the men's part, Japanese skater Nobunari Oda, winner of the French Grand Prix earlier this month, continued his good form to lead the men's short program with 83.35 points for his almost perfect spins and light-footed jumps.

Sergei Voronov of Russia, who scored 81.40 points, was temporarily on the second with a slim holding off, while American Evan Lysacek, world champion in 2009, finished a disappointing third place with 80.80.

American Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto, the Olymic runners-up in 2006, led the ice dancing standings after the compulsory dance on Friday afternoon and original dance late in the evening.

They dominated both of those, posting 60.33 points from their graceful original dance and earning 38.33 in the compulsory dance to collect 98.33, out of reach for second-placed Russian pair Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski, the 2009 European champions, who finished with 92.78.

Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali of Italy, 2009 European silver medalists and six-time Italian national champions, settled for a third place with 89.96. The final standings of ice dance will be decided after Saturday's free dance, scheduled for last.

The Cup of China Grand Prix was the third stop of this season's figure skating series, taking place at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium from October 30 to November 1. Skaters will compete here for a global prize money of 180, 000 U.S. dollars per individual event and receive points according to their placements.

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