Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, the last pair on the ice, skated a near-flawless short programme to take the lead from two-time world silver medallists Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China with scores of 5.9 and 5.8.

The Russians, who missed last season's world championships in Nice after Berezhnaya failed a drug test and the pair were stripped of the gold medal at the European championships in Vienna, were determined to put their troubles behind them.

"I just told them to forget last year completely and start everything from scratch," said the pairs' coach Tamara Moskvina. "I think this season we will see them as a new pair, with even better and more difficult skating."

Poles Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek edged Canadians Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz for third place going into Saturday's free programme.

European champion Evgeny Plushchenko was the unanimous choice among the judges to lead the men's competition after perfectly landing his quadruple-triple combination. American Matthew Savoie was a distant second, beating Bulgarian Ivan Dinev.

Another American, Michael Weiss, who beat Plushchenko to the bronze medal at last season's world championships and was eager to challenge him here, had a disastrous performance. He missed several required elements to end up in a disappointing sixth place.

Reigning European champion Irina Slutskaya was the clear winner in the women's short programme with her impressive routine. Fellow Russian Elena Sokolava came in second ahead of 15-year-old American Sarah Hughes.

Only world silver medallists Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy broke the Russians' grip on the top places as they took the lead in the ice dancing competition.

The pair ahead of Russian champions Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh after Friday's compulsory dance