DUBAI (AFP) - Amelie Mauresmo's dismal run of form continued Thursday when she lost in straight sets in the Dubai Open quarter-finals.

Mauresmo lost 6-1, 7-6 to Svetlana Kuznetsova, the second-seeded Russian, which means that the former world number one from France still has not won three matches in a row since losing her Wimbledon title eight months ago.

"I started to play better in the second set and there were times when I played some good tennis," said Mauresmo, trying to make the best of another disappointing performance.

"There were still probably a few things here and there which cost me that second set, and I didn't play the tie-break as I expected, but she came up with some good shots when she needed them."

The defeat looked as though it was going to be even heavier when Kuznetsova, striking the ball heavily and mixing in some great winners with a fairly high error ratio, went a break of serve up in the second set, having won the first.

Mauresmo looked flat, as though motivation were a difficulty, though she has more often cited confidence as a bigger problem.

But suddenly the seeded player played an indifferent service game to allow her opponent back to parity and after that Mauresmo, playing much better, started making serious progress for the first time.

She broke for 5-3, playing with more consistency and choosing her net attacks more judiciously, and even had a set point at advantage point on her serve.

But Kuznetsova saved that with a fierce and brilliant backhand cross court drive winner, and very soon Mauresmo's challenge evaporated.

She delivered a double fault to go break point down - which was quickly converted by another of Kuznetsova's clumping drives - and then played a disappointing tie-break.

A telegraphed backhand volley gave Kuznetsova plenty of time to make a winning backhand pass and gain a mini-break at 3-2, and after that Mauresmo seemed to lose belief in survival, quickly losing the next two points on her serve.

"She changed her tactics (in the second set) and she tried to come in more," said Kuznetsova. "But I gave her the break of serve myself when I was playing against the wind.

"I was not moving well in the second set and she played better, but I got lower in my level.

"You can see she's not very confident but I don't think she plays worse than one year ago."