DUBAI, Feb 24: Amelie Mauresmo’s 16-match unbeaten run, which included the first Grand Slam title of her career and three successive titles, came to an end with a rain-interrupted defeat in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open here Friday.

But even though the top-seeded Australian Open champion from France was surprisingly beaten by the unseeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, she looks certain to become world number one again in a couple of weeks time.

Mauresmo’s two-hour 7-6 (11/9), 6-4 defeat took place over two days, and the timing of the weather disruptions may have made it harder for a tired body which was given the challenge of another tournament this week only at the last moment after the Williams’ sisters belatedly withdrew.

Kuznetsova will next play Justine Henin-Hardenne, the fourth-seeded French Open champion from Belgium, who survived a second set crisis to win the tie-break by 7-5 in a 6-4, 7-6 win over the seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone.

The other semifinal is between Lindsay Davenport, the titleholder from the United States, who outlasted Maria Kirilenko, the improving 19-year-old Russian by 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and another Russian Maria Sharapova.

The former Wimbledon champion joined the semifinalists by gaining a 6-3, 6-4 revenge over Martina Hingis for a defeat in Tokyo the week before last.

In Kuznetsova’s match Mauresmo had just got her nose in front for the first time at 3-2 in the first set tie-breaker when the rain caused abandonment for the day on Thursday, and when she restarted she was sluggish.

Kuznetsova nevertheless had to save two set points shortly after the resumption, and to recover from 0-3 down in the second set, but once she had done so her confidence grew visibly and she began to look dangerous with sudden fierce changes of pace with her ground strokes.

Had Mauresmo converted set points at 8-7 and 11-10 in the tiebreak Kuznetsova might have found it very hard to feed off the memories of a career breakthrough here two years ago.

On the first of these Mauresmo advanced into no man’s land as if to come to the net, changed her mind, and landed in trouble from which she could not escape.

On the second Kuznetsova found a chance to attack first, launching a heavy forehand followed by an even heavier approach shot which did not require the follow-up volley.

Another pivotal moment was when Kuznetsova was serving at 0-3 in the second set and drifted to 30-40, at which stage Mauresmo was a little late preparing for a drive and mis-hit it long.

Kuznetsova then broke back at once, and played a fine game to break for 5-4 in which she produced one exquisite half-volley drop shot winner.

And even though she slipped to 30-40 again while serving for the match, she was able to sustain the momentum till the end with some solid serving and clubbing forehand drives.

“My concentration, focus and energy were not quite there today on the key points,” said Mauresmo. “But if I still become number one I will be happy to take it. It is a reward for consistency over a whole year.”

Sharapova’s last eight game against Hingis was far closer than the score suggests, with Hingis getting great support from a full house of 5,000, holding a point to break back to 4-4 in the fist set, and another to reach 5-5 in the second.

It was full of fascinating rallies between the great baseline attacker and the great baseline counter-puncher, with both women more willing to come to the net than they used to be.

But Hingis was dissatisfied with her performance.

Quarterfinals results:

Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6 (7/5); Maria Sharapova bt Martina Hingis 6-3, 6-4; Lindsay Davenport bt Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Amelie Mauresmo 7-6 (11/9), 6-4.

MEMPHIS RESULTS

MEMPHIS (Tennessee): Collated results here Thursday in the 865,000 dollars ATP-WTA tournament:

Men

Second round

Kristof Vliegen (BEL) bt Paul Goldstein (USA) 6-1, 6-4; Julien Benneteau (FRA) bt Xavier Malsse (BEL x8) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4; Robin Soderling (SWE) bt Kenneth Carlsen (DEN) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4; Paul Capdeville (CHI) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 7-5; Tommy Haas (GER x6) bt Vincent Spadea (USA) 7-6 (9/7), 6-1; Andy Murray (GBR) bt Rik De Voest (RSA) 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-5; Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) bt Cyril Saulnier (FRA) 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3

Women

Quarterfinals: Jill Craybas (USA x8) bt Lilia Osterloh (USA) 6-4, 6-1; Amy Frazier (USA x7) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3); Marta Domachowska (POL x6) bt Laura Granville (USA x4) 6-4, 6-4; Sofia Arvidsson (SWE x3) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 7-5, 6-4.—Agencies