The German tennis player Sabine Lisicki has fired the fastest serve ever recorded at a WTA event, unleashing a 210.8 kilometres per hour bomb in her first round loss to Ana Ivanovic at the Stanford Classic in California.
Lisicki unleashed the serve in the opening set of their match on the plexipave hardcourt surface at Stanford University.
She won the point despite former world number one Ivanovic getting her racket to the ball.
The WTA says the serve bettered the previous record of 207.6 kph set by American Venus Williams at the US Open in 2007.
The fastest serve ever recorded on approved equipment in professional tennis was the 263.4 kph (163.7 mph) rocket hit by Australian Sam Groth at an ATP Challenger event in South Korea in 2012.
He too lost the match.
