MOSCOW, Russia - Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko began his campaign to retain his title at the 2010 Vancouver Games with victory at the Rostelecom Cup on Saturday, the Russian leg of the ISU Grand Prix series.

The 26-year-old Russian, who has not competed internationally since his success at the 2006 Turin Games, has been lured out of retirement in the hope of claiming a second gold in Canada next February.

"I skated with pleasure and I didn't get tired at all," Plushenko said. "It's a terrific feeling."

"I felt free and allowed some improvisations. I had some new movements that were not included in the programme earlier. But still there's plenty of homework to do to make it all perfect."

The Olympic champion's solid presentation of his free programme confirmed his leading position, which he clinched after the free programme, as he received 157.95 for Tango Amore by Edvin Marton for a total score of 240.20.

Second-placed Takahiko Kozuka of Japan suffered some minor errors in his free skating Guitar Concerto by Michael Kamen and finished 25 points behind Plushenko.

Russia's Artem Borodulin, who was fourth after the short programme, jumped into the third spot with a new personal best of 129.48pts for his free skating of a Tango Medley for a total of 201.55.

Plushenko grabbed the lead on Friday with his short programme of Concierto de Aranjuez but despite giving an error-free presentation failed to better his previous personal best mark as he received 82.25 points.

However, his score - the season's second best in the world - gave him the lead with a 6.75-point advantage over Kozuka, whose sparkling presentation of Jimmy Hendrix's Bold As Love proved popular.