Samantha Stosur’s late-season struggles have continued with a straight-sets loss in her opening match at the Elite Trophy event in Zhuhai.

Stosur went down 6-4 6-2 to British top seed Johanna Konta on Wednesday night and must beat Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in her second round-robin match to have any hope of making the semi-finals.

Australia’s world No.20 remains winless since the US Open in September, having lost her previous three first-round matches during a disappointing Asian swing.