KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - Insults, bottles and chairs were hurled back and forth between dozens of Bosnian and Serbian youths who had earlier peacefully watched an Australian Open match on Friday.
The fight erupted after defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Bosnian-born American Amer Delic 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to reach the fourth round.
The two groups of youths - many wrapped in their national flags - had been sitting about 10 yards (meters) from each other, watching the match on a giant video screen, with no conflict.
But within moments of Djokovic's win, water bottles were flying both ways, followed quickly by plastic chairs.
Other spectators quickly scrambled away from the brawl but it took a couple of minutes for security and police to arrive.
One Bosnian woman was hit in the head by a chair and fell to the ground before stumbling away on the arms of friends as police intervened to end the loud, angry scuffle.
Victoria state police said the girl had only minor injuries and was not pursuing charges.
"They started it. They threw the first chair and knocked our girl down and kept throwing things at her," said a Bosnian man, who was led away by police before he could identify himself.
Security led away those suspected of participating in the skirmish, taking the Bosnians and Serbs to different areas for questioning. The lawn area at Melbourne Park was left strewn with at least a dozen broken chairs, plastic bottles and empty food containers.
One angry Serb, who did not want to be identified and wrapped his flag around his head to avoid the television cameras, accused the Bosnians of bringing "weapons" into the grounds, pointing to his friend's wrist, which was bleeding from three puncture wounds.
Police said a number of people from both sides were ejected from the venue and that an investigation was continuing. Australian Open organizers had no immediate comment.
-AP
