The Chinese pair Xue Shen, top, and Hongbo Zhao put together a winning pairs performance.

The Russians, leaders overnight in the less important short program, still were happy. They qualified, along with the Chinese and French pairs, for the lucrative Grand Prix series final in Tokyo in February.

Three other pairs spots for the series final went to those who skipped Asahikawa. They include Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia, and Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek of Poland.

"We're happy to place first once again in NHK Trophy," Zhao said. "We won the title in 1997, and finished second and then fourth in the last two years."

Bernadis said he and Abitbol were satisfied with the result and their free program's choreography and its tale of a princess and a wounded warrior falling in love during a war.

"We'll do the same program in the series final in Tokyo, this time aiming for a better result," said Bernadis, with a nod of consent from Abitbol.

"Maria did it right. It was me who goofed," said Tikhonov, who said a couple of his errors included a shaky landing after a jump.

In the women's singles, Irina Slutskaya of Russia performed a solid short program to outpoint former world champion Maria Butyrskaya, also of Russia, and Fumie Suguri of Japan.

Slutskaya, reigning European champion and winner of Skate Canada and Cup of Russia this season, enchanted the crowd of 3,000 with graceful and rhythmic skating that included a triple lutz-double loop combination, a double axel and a triple flip to go with a flawless sequence of spirals, steps, spins and flying camels.

For required elements, she received seven 5.8s and two 5.7s, compared to Butyrskaya's six 5.7s, one 5.6 and two 5.5s.

Tatyana Malinina of Uzbekistan was in fourth ahead of Angela Nikodinov of the United States.

Jennifer Kirk, a 16-year-old American who was the junior world championship in March, placed sixth.

Michelle Currie of Canada withdrew with foot injuries from a morning practice earlier in the day.

Since Slutskaya came to Asahikawa with 12 points, a top-four finish qualifies her for the series final.

For the final in Tokyo on Feb. 16-18, the six top scorers qualify also in the men's, women's and ice dancing events.

Figure skaters are allowed to compete in only two of the six Grand Prix events in a season, with the exception of last season's top six in the overall standings. They can compete in three events, designating two of them for points scoring.

For Slutskaya, Skate Canada was a nonscoring event.

For now, Butyrskaya is the top qualifier with a maximum of 24 points she scored with victories at Nation Cup and Lagique Trophy. The NHK Trophy is an additional event, where she may win prize money.

Among those skipping Asahikawa, Michelle Kwan has 21 points and is second, followed by Russia's Elena Sokolova and America's Sarah Hughes, who have 16 points each. Victoria Volchkova of Russia is in fifth at 13 points.

In ice dancing, world champions Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France stayed on top of the competition after the original program, followed by Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania, and Kati Winkler and Rene Lohse of Germany.

Saturday's free programs will decide the winners of the women's and ice dancing events.

A two-day competition in the men's event starts Saturday.