China's two-time world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong took a solid lead in the pairs short program at the ISU Grand Prix Figure Skating NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Japan on Friday.

Sui and Han, who won the ISU Grand Prix Cup in Chongqing Municipality, China, earlier this month, scored a personal best of 81.27 points to dominate the short program. This was also the highest score of a pair under the new scoring standards of the ISU.

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro of Canada finished second with 71.21, while Russian pair Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov were third with 69.00.

"I wasn't doing well in pregame practice" said Sui. "I did a few toe loop jumps, but they weren't good." Having scored 81.27 made her happy, though. "I'm very satisfied that when the competition started, we were able deliver the performance like we trained."

When asked if the pair would give the quadruple-throw a try in future competitions, Sui said, "We are testing the water with different styles to be more comfortable. When we get better, we will consider taking out that challenge again."

Earlier on Friday, four-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France took a confident lead in the rhythm dance with a new personal best of 90.03 points, becoming the first ice dance couple to break the 90-point barrier.

Russia's Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin ranked second, followed by Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)