The Japanese athlete scored 99.99 points in Turin, good enough for a lead of 5.13.

It is an all-Japanese top three, with Sota Yamamoto second and Kao Miura third.

Yamamoto, the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating runner-up in 2014 and a past Youth Olympic Games champion, scored 94.86 and 17-year-old Miura 87.07.

Italy's Daniel Grassl, on home ice, placed fourth via 80.40 and American teenager Ilia Malinin was fifth. 

Malinin headed to Turin with the best score of the series, but could not hit those heights as was awarded 80.10 points.

A fourth Japanese skater, Shun Sato is bringing up the rear on 76.62.

The men's free skate is scheduled for Saturday (December 10).

Uno won an individual bronze medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics earlier this year and also earned a team bronze, but that could be upgraded depending on the out of Kamila Valieva's doping case.

The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final is absent of Russian athletes as they are banned from International Skating Union (ISU) competition over the war in Ukraine.

This is the ISU's biggest figure skating event outside of the World Championships, but had not been held for two years because of COVID-19-related postponements.