China's decade-best Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo made a successful comeback on Friday after resuming figure skating from retirement, earning an undeniable lead at the pairs standings after short program. The most famed "Couple on Ice" hit a very high score of 72.28 points for their flawless performance to Sarah Brightman's Who Wants to Live Forever.

It has been the pair's personal best of short program, earning them an edge of nearly 10 points over the distant runners-up Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov from Ukraine.

Shen Xue (L) and Zhao Hongbo of China perform during the pairs short program competition of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2009/2010 in Beijing, China, Oct. 30, 2009.

The Ukrainian duo, with 62.95 points, had to work very hard to hold on to the second place as the reigning world junior champions pair Lubo Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze settled temporarily at the third position at 62.54. 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.

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 in Saturday's free skate.

According to the world 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.

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