Lipnitskaya, who at 15 is the youngest skater in the competition, showed that her surprise victory at last month's European Championships was no fluke as she easily outclassed Japan's twice former world gold medallist Mao Asada in the women's short programme.
She nailed a soaring triple-Lutz triple-toeloop combination and her spins were so fast that she almost disappeared into a blur, leaving the fans hollering in appreciation.
Her score of 72.90 earned Russia a maximum 10 points and left the hosts perched at the top of the standings with 37 points at the halfway point of the competition.
Asada's love-hate relationship with the triple Axel continued as she fell on her hands and knees following the jump to finish a distant third with 64.07, but still enough to get Japan into the next stage.
Italy's Carolina Kostner, the 2012 world champion, was second overall with 70.84, enabling her team to leapfrog France and China and advance to the free skate segment.
Canada (32), United States (27), Japan (24) and Italy (23) all joined Russia by qualifying for the second section of the competition.
France, China, Germany, Ukraine and Britain were all eliminated after failing to make the cut.
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Julian Linden)
