SHANGHAI (AFP) - Australia's Nick Kyrgios argued with a fan and the chair umpire and was booed off court after he went down to a bizarre straight-sets defeat at tennis' Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.

The combustible world No. 12 was slapped with a code violation for an audible obscenity and was warned to play properly during an eventful 6-3, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Mischa Zverev.

Chair umpire Ali Nili told Kyrgios to play professionally after he patted a soft serve into his opponent's court and was broken to go 1-4 down in the first set.

Facing game point at 1-1 in the second set, the 21-year-old started walking to his chair before Zverev's serve had even landed.

Australia's highest-ranked player was broken twice in the second set and as Zverev served for the match at 5-1, he took on a heckler in a heated argument mid-game.

Facing three match points at 0-40 down, Kyrgios then floated a return from Zverev's second serve before the German gratefully put away the winning shot.

The incident comes after Kyrgios won the third title of his career, and season, at last week's Japan Open and was showing new focus after pairing with trainer Martin Skinner.

Kyrgios is known for his poor behaviour on court. Last year he received a suspended one-month ban for making a lewd and personal comment during a match with Stan Wawrinka.