updated 9:28 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2008

MELBOURNE, Australia - A match was held up Tuesday while police used pepper spray to subdue three spectators and ejected five fans from the grounds at the Australian Open.

The match between a finalist from last year, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, and Greece’s Konstantinos Economidis was stopped for five minutes while police ejected the spectators, tournament officials and police said.

Police said those thrown out will be not be allowed to re-enter Melbourne Park for 24 hours. If they are previous offenders, they will have to stay away longer.

Some of those ejected could be charged with assault, failing to obey police or using offensive language, Victoria Police Superintendent John Cooke said in a statement.

Last year, Serbian and Croatian fans clashed at the tournament, some using sticks and flag poles. Police and private security guards ejected about 150 spectators on the first day of the 2007 tournament.

Hundreds of Greek fans were at Melbourne Park earlier Tuesday to watch Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who lost in the final two years ago, win in four sets over Thomas Johansson of Sweden. There were no reports of trouble at that match.

Gonzalez, who won in straight sets, said the spirited behavior Tuesday by Chilean and Greek fans reminded him of a Davis Cup match.

“It was very noisy from both sides, but the police came in,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t know exactly what happened with them. I saw that they threw spray.”

Gonzalez, who said he has never seen pepper spray used at a match, said a few spectators yelled at him in Spanish.

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“They (did) say a few things, but it’s part of the crowd,” Gonzalez said. “For me it’s fun to play like that. It’s like a Davis Cup match. I think the people enjoyed it.”

Economidis, who lost 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-1, said he had never experienced crowd problems like that before.

“I don’t know exactly what caused it or what happened out there,” he said. “I was focused on my match and I am really sad that this has taken place on a tennis court. It’s really something that nobody wants.”

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