SHENZHEN, China -- The returning Russian quad queen of figure skating was edged out for victory Saturday at the Cup of China by the elegant free skate of Japan's Mone Chiba.
Alexandra Ignatova landed a quad lutz early in what was the highest-scoring free skate as she aimed to be the first mother ever to win a Grand Prix event.
The 22-year-old Ignatova, who welcomed a baby son last year, was competing in her first major international event since taking silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics as Alexandra Trusova. Those Winter Games ended days before Russia launched a full military invasion of Ukraine, leading to an International Skating Union ban for the country. Russian skaters now compete as approved neutral individuals.
Chiba led after the short program and produced an error-free skate to the classical piano of "Clair de Lune" by composer Claude Debussy.
The fourth-place finisher at the 2026 Milan Olympics, Chiba tearfully put her hands to her face after completing her program. Her winning total score of 224.48 was just over three points ahead of Ignatova, whose free skate score of 148.90 edged Chiba by 0.5.
Bouquets of flowers from fans rained down on the ice after Ignatova's skate to the Kate Bush song "Running Up That Hill."
Ignatova came off the ice into a hug with her coach Eteri Tutberidze, who was the controversial coach of the Russian skaters who swept the Olympic podium in China four years ago.
Hae-in Lee of South Korea placed third Saturday, trailing nearly 14 points behind Chiba. Fourth-place Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia had been second after the short program.
In seventh place was 17-year-old Sophie Joline von Felten of the United States, and Alina Bonillo was 12th.
The Russian pair of Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov won Saturday competing as neutrals approved by the ISU after being denied that status last season to try to qualify for the Milano Cortina Olympics.
The 2021 world champions and Beijing Olympics bronze medalists retained their lead from Friday's short program to finish more than 11 points ahead of Georgian pair Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava. In third for Japan were Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi.
"We felt a lot of stress because it's our first Grand Prix in this season and for the last four or five years," Mishina said. "Now we feel more confident after this gold medal."
American pairs Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard finished fifth, just ahead of countrymates Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez.