A one-time glamour club of the competition, the Sixers have missed the last three finals series and sunk to a first wooden spoon last summer.
However they appear to be back as a genuine force, with a 27-run win leaving them first on the ladder and already one victory shy of the four they claimed all of last summer.
After Alyssa Healy's 43 from 32 balls helped the Sixers to 6-147, Ashleigh Gardner led the way with the ball with 2-19 and Maitlan Brown took 3-25 as the Stars finished 9-120.
The Stars had only really looked in the hunt early, when English duo Lauren Winfield-Hill (20) and Bess Heath (37) put on 50 for the first wicket inside seven overs.
But the Melbourne side lost a steady stream of wickets from that point on, with the game all but over when Sophie Ecclestone threw down the striker's-end stumps in her own follow-through to run out a charging Tess Flintoff for three.
Healy's knock will act as a significant confidence boost for the Sixers.
Low on runs in recent months, the wicketkeeper-batter hit six fours, with the pick of them being a reverse sweep off Sasha Moloney.
Ellyse Perry scored 28 off 30 and took a superb leaping catch to get rid of Kim Garth, after racking up knocks of 55 and 58 on Thursday and Saturday night against Brisbane and Adelaide.
Those performances will do the allrounder's hopes of reclaiming a spot in Australia's Twenty20 top order no harm, after the retirement of Rachael Haynes and Meg Lanning's absence on personal leave.
Earlier, Sophie Molineux had again strengthened her case for a national recall as she continued her rich vein of form in the Melbourne Renegades' four-wicket win over Adelaide.
In a heart-stopping opener to the Mackay double-header, Sarah Coyte hit a Deandra Dottin delivery to the square-leg rope to claim victory with one ball to spare.
Molineux though was the star, claiming 4-23 with the ball and riding her luck to hit 32 with the bat to set up the chase.
Ruled out of the Ashes, one-day World Cup and Commonwealth Games with a foot injury, Molineux has made a clear statement on her return.
The 24-year-old hit scores of 56 and 113 for Victoria on return from injury in the WNCL, before being the Renegades' best in their WBBL season opener on Sunday.
In the day's other game, defending-champions Perth again showed they are a force as they thrashed the Sydney Thunder by nine wickets.
Lilly Mills, Marizanne Kapp and Alana King each bagged two wickets and Maddy Green claimed the catch of the weekend at Blacktown.
Only Tahlia Wilson (28) and Anika Learoyd (26) reached double-figures for the Thunder, whose score of 8-88 was the lowest in the club's history.
Sophie Devine struck an unbeaten 44 from 42 balls to help Perth chase down the target with 31 deliveries to spare to start the Scorchers' campaign.
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