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Police have defended the use of capsicum spray on unruly fans ejected from the Australian Open tennis in Melbourne.
Officers were called in about 8.30pm (AEDT) yesterday to calm the crowd after complaints of drunken and abusive behaviour by a group of about 100 Greek fans at Margaret Court Arena.
One fan lunged a fist at police and another fell over in a drunken stupor during an aggressive confrontation with police.
Play between Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Greek player Konstantinos Economidis was suspended for five minutes while police used capsicum spray to restore order.
Some fans later blasted the response as heavy-handed but Victoria Police Superintendent John Cooke today said the action was justified and police would do it again in similar circumstances.
"If the same situation arose I see that as the best option," he told reporters today.
"The use of the spray actually averted probably what would have ended up being a much larger physical confrontation."
Mr Cooke said 10 people were treated for exposure to capsicum spray, but he denied any children were affected.
Ten people were ejected from the match and another three Greek fans were arrested and banned from the Open for 24 hours.
They were expected to face charges, including assaulting police, resisting arrest, using indecent language and failing to obey the directions of a police member.
Police would also seek to have the three Greek fans banned from the tennis for up to five years at the discretion of a magistrate.
They were also reviewing footage of the incident to identify further offenders.
Australian Open director Craig Tiley backed the law enforcement response and joined police in ruling out segregating fans of different nationalities at matches.
"We have full confidence in the actions that they (police) take and certainly in this case the actions that they were forced to take were the correct actions," he told reporters today.
"We absolutely believe that there's been no damage to the reputation of the Open, we are disappointed that the behaviour of a very small group of people does impact on the enjoyment of the fans."
After the match Gonzalez said he had never seen capsicum spray used before at a tennis tournament.
He said that while the crowd was noisy and one Greek fan was abusive to him in Spanish, he was not overly insulted by anything said.
"They say a few things, but it's part of the crowd," Gonzalez said.
Economidis - who lost the match 6-4 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 - said he was saddened by the incident.
"It was strange. It's never happened to me before," he said.
"It's really something that nobody wants. It was a great atmosphere except for this certain point of the match that this incident happened.
"I am really unhappy about what happened."
- AAP
