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World number 29 Paire, seeded 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 argued 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.
Paire then spat on the mark and shouted obscenities, earning a
warning for a first code of conduct violation.
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 $8.50 million and wrote: "In the end it's worth it to suck."
Renowned as a hothead, Paire has had a number of indiscretions
through his career, including being kicked out of the 2016 Rio
Olympics by the French delegation for spending too much time
away from the athletes' village.
After being knocked out of the first round of the Australian
Open, Paire launched a tirade at organisers, accusing them of
"shameful" treatment of players during quarantine ahead of the
Grand Slam.
Cerundolo, whose brother Juan Manuel won the Cordoba Open in
Argentina last week, advanced to a quarter-final clash against
sixth seed Pablo Andujar.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; editing by Richard Pullin)
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