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Facing the always-dangerous Belinda Bencic, Lisicki knew she needed to bring out her biggest weapon, and she most certainly did with those 27 aces - 16 in the first set, 11 in the second set. The No.8-seeded German hung tough through a much tigher second set to close out the Swiss, 6-1, 7-6(4).
"It's nice to have another record!" Lisicki said in her on-court interview. "It's obviously a good weapon to have on grass. And I love playing on grass, so it's nice to be back at the Aegon Classic Birmingham."
Lisicki is a former champion in Birmingham too, winning it in 2011 - does that make it more special?
"It's always special to come back to a tournament you've won before, but it's not only that. All the memories I have playing in England, winning here and doing so well at Wimbledon - it's all so nice."
Not all of the Top 8 seeds escaped their first opponents of the week, though, with No.2 seed and defending champion Ana Ivanovic losing a nail-biter to Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6), and No.5 seed Eugenie Bouchard falling to Kristina Mladenovic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
