Frenchman Benoit Paire has crashed out of the Argentina Open after loosing his final service game and being docked a point for spitting on the court in a 4-6 6-3 6-1 defeat to Francisco Cerundolo.
The world number 29, who competed third in the tournament, lost his temper over a line call when 2-0 down in the second set after a Cerundolo serve down the middle was judged an ace.
The bearded 31-year-old maintained heatedly, with the chair umpire on court over a mark in the clay next to the line, but failed to convince the official to overturn the call.
Later in the set, he was docked a point for a second code of conduct violation after again spitting and arguing with the chair umpire.
Serving at 5-1 down in the third set, Paire made two seemingly deliberate wild double-faults to lose the match, tapping his last serve well wide while a ball-kid was still on the court retrieving his previous serve. After the match, he posted a screenshot of his career winnings of $8.5m (£6.1m) and wrote: “In the end it’s worth it to suck.”
