She committed 44 unforced errors, mostly in the first set, and looked exhausted, running a bag of ice over her neck and shoulders between games as temperatures rose to nearly 35 C. Desperate to finish the match quickly, she switched hands to play a scrambling forehand from the leftside two points from the end.
Kuznetsova was forced to deal with a doping charge on Tuesday. She joined WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott in a sharp rebuke of Belgian regional sports minister Claude Eerdekens, who said the Russian player tested positive for the stimulant ephedrine during a charity event last month.
While the common ingredient in cold medicine is on the banned list during competition, it's not off-limits during the offseason.
"When I was on court, I wasn't thinking about it," she said. But as she walked off, "it all started coming back."
She didn't rule out legal action against Eerdekens: "It's not my decision now. He has to pay for it."
One Russian hope went out and another advanced when ninth-seeded Vera Zvonareva, with 11 double-faults, lost 6-3, 6-3 to compatriot Vera Douchevina.
Mauresmo, the Olympic silver medalist and runner-up here in 1999, overcame poor serving in the first set and reeled off the last 10 games in a 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 win over Dinara Safina, Marat Safin's sister.
On the men's side, French Open champion Gaston Gaudio overcame Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (4), and Belgium's Olivier Rochus had a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 win over Gael Monfils, an 18-year-old Frenchman who won three of the four junior majors last season.
Tommy Robredo (13) Dominik Hrbaty (20), Feliciano Lopez (24) and 2002 Australian champion Thomas Johansson (30) advanced, while Tommy Haas, seeded 16th, was upset 5-7, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3 by Slovakia's Karol Beck. Beck said he deliberately played drop shots to make Haas run when he noticed his German rival cramping in the heat.
Other seeded players ousted were Ivan Ljubicic (22) and Paradorn Srichaphan (27).
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