Amelie Mauresmo's poor run of form continued as she was beaten by Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai.

Mauresmo has now gone eight months without winning three successive matches after a 6-1 7-6 quarter-final defeat.

The former world number one has slipped to 29th in the rankings after a drastic loss of confidence, with her Australian Open and Wimbledon triumphs of 2006 a distant memory.

"I started to play better in the second set and there were times when I played some good tennis," said Mauresmo.

"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."

Having dominated the first set, second-seed Kuznetsova went a break up in the second and looked on course for an even more convincing victory.

However, a poor service game from the Russian allowed Mauresmo to level the match and she briefly played with greater consistency.

Yet after breaking for a 5-3 lead, the Frenchwoman missed set point on her own serve and the momentum immediately swung the other way.

A double fault gave Kuznetsova the opportunity to get back on serve and she took it with a trademark solid forehand.

Mauresmo then played a disappointing tie-break, losing two points on serve to slip 5-2 behind, a position from which she was unable to recover.

"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."

Kuznetsova plays fourth seed Jelena Jankovic in the semi-finals.

Jankovic's quarter-final opponent Anna Chakvetadze retired due to injury after losing the opening set 6-1.