Sam Stosur has had the worst possible start to her preparations for the Australian Open, suffering a comprehensive, straight sets loss to No.27 ranked Russian, Anastasia Puvlyuchenkova at the Sydney International.

Stosur was knocked out in the opening round 6-3, 6-1 in little over an hour.

The defeat follows a first round loss to Spaniard Garbine Muguruza at the Brisbane International last week.

Stosur, the world No.21, has a week to prepare for her 15th Australian Open singles campaign, which kicks off next Monday.