Leanne Wong of the United States led the way after scoring 55.749 points at Kitakyushu General Gymnasium in the Japanese city yesterday.

But Melnikova of the Russian Gymnastics Federation overtook the American after notching 57.065 in the four disciplines as the final three subdivisions were completed.

The 21-year-old, who won team gold at Tokyo 2020 as well as two individual bronze medals, scored 14,466 in vault, 14,466 in uneven bars, 14,033 in beam and 14.100 in floor exercise.

Kayla DiCello of the US posted the third best all-around score in qualifying with 55.700.

Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, the Olympic silver medallist, elected to not do the all-around this week but posted the top qualifying scores in vault with 14.800 and uneven bars with 15.100.

None of the six women who represented the US at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are in Kitakyushu.

Suni Lee, the defending Olympic champion, is competing on "Dancing With the Stars", while five-time world all-around champion Simone Biles and the other 2020 US Olympians are taking part in a national tour.

Men’s qualification is also underway in Kitakyushu with China’s Zhang Boheng taking the early lead after the first two of six subdivisions.

Zhang tops the standings with 87.897 thanks to an impressive score of 15.300 in parallel bars.

China top scored in three other disciplines with Weng Hao scoring 15.600 in pommel horse, Lan Xingyu registering 15.266 in rings and Hu Xuwei totalling 14.533 in high bar.

Nazar Chepurnyi of Ukraine produced the best vault of the day with 14.833, while compatriot Illia Kovtun impressed in the floor exercise, scoring 14.333.

Competition is due to continue tomorrow.