Caroline Wozniacki lost valuable Australian Open match practice when she was bundled out of the first round of the Brisbane International by Kazakhstan qualifier Ksenia Pervak yesterday.

In a battle lasting 2hrs 48mins, left-handed Pervak eased past Wozniacki 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the first shock of the WTA tournament.

Eighth-seeded Wozniacki had looked in control as she reeled off the first set in just 29 minutes. But the Russian-born Pervak found her range in the second set and had the Dane constantly under pressure with her swinging left-handed groundstrokes.

She won the set to level the match then stunned Wozniacki in the deciding set with an all-out attack.

Pervak said she knew she could not give the more experienced Wozniacki any cheap points in the tiebreak.

“I just told myself that I needed to be focused on every point and just play my game as aggressively as I could,” she said.

Wozniacki will play in Sydney next week in a last-ditch bid to find some form ahead of the January 14-27 Australian Open in Melbourne.

“Obviously you’re a competitor so you want to win and you’re not happy about it when you lose,” she said.

“I fought until the end. Maybe I didn’t play my best tennis but it’s tough to expect that from yourself in your first match back.”

It was 21-year-old Pervak’s first win over a top 10 player and the first time she has been past the first round in Brisbane in four attempts.

Fourth seed Angelique Kerber survived a tough three-setter against Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, while German compatriot Sabine Lisicki had a more straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Lucie Safarova.

French Open runner-up and fifth seed Sara Errani thumped Russia’s Olga Puchkova 6-1, 6-3.