Fabio Fognini was in effect kicked out of the US Open on Saturday, accused of shouting obscenities at a female umpire during his defeat by his fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia, a qualifier who bagled the 22nd seed in the last of four sets in the first round.

Fognini, whose legendary volatility had dimmed since his marriage to the retired US Open champion Flavia Pennetta last year, then the birth of their first child in May, exploded three times during the match.

Louise Engzelle, the Swedish umpire, reported Fognini after he called her, in Italian, “troia” and “bocchinara” – which translate as “whore” and “cocksucker”. He received three fines from the International Tennis Federation of $4,000, $15,000 and $5,000, to which he responded, according to the Italian tennis website Ubitennis: “Today they’re all moralists.”

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The Grand Slam Board announced on Saturday that Fognini was “provisionally suspended from further participation in the US Open pending a final determination”, but that takes him out of the doubles tournament, where he and his compatriot Simon Bolelli had advanced to the third round. They were due to play the American Nicholas Monroe and the Australian John‑Patrick Smith, and might have gone on to meet the defending champions, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, in the quarter-finals.

Alexandr Dolgopolov, who came under investigation after claims of suspicious betting patterns in a pre‑tournament match in which he lost in straight sets to the Brazilian underdog, Thiago Monteiro, at the Winston-Salem Open last week, is in the fourth round after a blistering 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 demolition of Viktor Troicki in an hour and 21 minutes.

Elsewhere, there was mayhem of a different sort. After six days, the women’s draw – as with the men’s – seemed to have run out of surprises. Shocks no longer seemed so shocking. Upsets were glibly disregarded, as one result after another made a mockery of the seedings. Seven of the top 16 seeds had already gone.

The world No1, Karolina Pliskova, came desperately close to becoming the eighth elite casualty, against 28‑year‑old Zhang Shuai, who is 25 places adrift of her in the world rankings. Pliskova said she had “a really big problem with my arm but hopefully nothing serious and I’ll be ready for my next match”.

Last year Pliskova lost to Angelique Kerber in the final. This year, Kerber went out in the first round. On Saturday, Pliskova had to save match point in the second set after an hour and 18 minutes before battling back to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.

Zhang came to New York with five career wins against top 10 opponents, built on a solid, all-round game that made her at least worthy of respect among the leading contenders. She proved more than that in a rousing start. Her lithe movement gave Pliskova nightmares as she scuttled about the court like a racket-wielding crab, winning seven of nine visits to the net and hunting down one lost cause after another. What she lacked in power, she made up for in experience, commitment and nous. Pliskova had won all their four matches – 6-2, 6-0 in Doha in their most recent meeting – but that looked irrelevant as Zhang served out the first set.

This was meant to be the tournament in which Pliskova finally delivered on her big serve – the biggest outside that of Serena Williams – and her all-round class. She had emerged from the shadows quickly, but then seemed blinded by the attention. This was her moment, many said, if the outright favourite, Garbiñe Muguruza, faltered.

Zhang had break point in the second set but could not take it. Pliskova found a superb winner down the line for deuce, her best shot of the match. Zhang served her fifth double fault to hand Pliskova set point, which she grabbed gleefully to take it to a decider. There was little in it all the way to the end, before Pliskova found one last awesome backhand to close it out, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.