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Malinina wins women's title
World champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia, won the pairs event, and winners in ice dancing were Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France.
The men's singles competition ends Sunday with free skating.
NHK Trophy is the sixth and last event in the International Skating Union's Grand Prix series. Under a points-scoring system, the series lead to the Grand Prix Final, this time in Russia in March, two weeks before the world championships in Finland.
"I didn't expect to win," said the 25-year-old Malinina, whose best finish in four previous tries at NHK Trophy was seventh place last year.
"I thought my performance today was perfect, but I wouldn't rate it 100 percent because I'm hoping to do better and better."
She placed a distant eighth in the Olympics in February, but she said it gave her confidence and motivation to continue skating.
Malinina took the advantage of error-prone skating in the more important free program by overnight leader Elena Liashenko of Ukraine and Russia's Irina Slutskaya.
Slutskaya held on to second to win the silver medal, while Fumie Sugiri of Japan edged Liashenko for the bronze.
In the pairs event, Olympic silver medalists Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze held their lead to win the gold. After having already qualified for the rand Prix Final with two previous Grand Prix victories, NHK Trophy was a non-points competition for them.
"As world champions, we're always under pressure to skate well and perform well each time we're competing. But we're done a good job," said Sikharulidze.
Chinese pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo overcame a shaky landing on the throw jump at the start to place second. When they did another throw jump in a four-minute performance, Zhao made it look as easy as throwing a ball. With the silver medal, the Chinese pair qualified for the Grand Prix Final.
In ice dancing, Anissina and Peizerat -- second in the world championships and Olympic bronze medalists -- received scores ranging from 5.6 and 5.8 of a possible 6.0 for technical merit and 5.8 and 5.9 for presentation.
Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia edged Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania for second place.
Results
SAPPORO, Japan (AP) -- Results Saturday of the NHK Trophy, the sixth and last in the figure skating Grand Prix meets:Final
Women
1. Tatyana Malinina, Uzbekistan, 2.5 total factored placings.
2. Irina Slutskaya, Russia, 3.0.
3. Fumie Suguri, Japan, 5.5.
4. Elena Liashenko, Ukraine, 5.5.
5. Vanessa Gusmeroli, France, 6.0.
6. Yulia Vorobieva, Azerbaijan, 9.5.
7. Eva-Maria Fitze, Germany, 10.0.
8. Shizuka Arakawa, Japan, 12.0.
9. Hanae Yokoya, Japan, 13.5.
10.Keyla Ohs, Canada, 15.5.
11. Elena Ivanova, Russia, 16.0.
Angela Nikodinov, United States, retired.
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Pairs
1. Elene Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, Russia, 1.5 total factored placings.
2. Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, China, 3.5.
3. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, Canada, 5.0.
4. Danielle Hartsell and Steve Hartsell, United States, 5.0.
5. Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, Russia, 8.0.
6. Marina Khalturina and Andorei Kroukov, Kazakstan, 8.5.
Nadia Micallef and Bruno Marcotte, Canada, retired.
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Ice Dance
1. Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, France, 2.0 total factored placings.
2. Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh, Russia, 4.0.
3. Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, Lithuania, 6.0.
4. Kati Winkler and Rene Lohse, Germany, 8.0.
5. Tatjana Navka and Roman Kastamarov, Russia, 10.0.
6. Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe, Canada, 12.0.
7. Eve Chalom and Mathew Gates, United States, 14.0.
8. Charlotte Clements and Gary Shortland, Britain, 16.0.
9. Rie Arikawa and Kenji Miyamoto, Japan, 18.4.
10. Nozomi Watanabe and Akiyuki Kido, Japan, 19.6.