Serbia's Ivanovic chalked up a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 win over Lisicki in the first round of the WTA Premier event in Stanford, although the one-time Wimbledon finalist powered her way into the record books with the fastest serve in women's tennis.
At 5-5 40-30 in the first set, Lisicki sent down a serve registering at 131 miles per hour, which eclipsed the previous record set by Venus Williams (129mph).
It was not enough for Lisicki, though, as she won just one more game for the encounter as Ivanovic became the first player on the WTA Tour to 40 wins for the season.
Ivanovic was the only seed to survive Tuesday's matches, as Dominika Cibulkova (six) and Carla Suarez Navarro (seven) were dumped out.
Puerto Rico's Monica Puig ousted Spain's Suarez Navarro 6-3 7-5, while Slovakian Cibulkova was outplayed by Spaniard Garbine Muguruza 6-2 4-6 6-2.
Wildcard Williams lost her fastest-serve record, but won her first-round match over Polish qualifier Paula Kania 6-3 6-2.
Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova was too good for Argentine Paula Ormaechea 6-3 6-4.
Canadian qualifier Carol Zhao advanced when Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer pulled out of their clash, with Zhao leading 6-2 1-0.