Last night's match between Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Konstantinos Economidis of Greece was stopped for about 10 minutes as police ejected three men. The trio was banned today from attending the rest of the tournament in Melbourne.

As many as 10 others may face charges pending a review of the incident at Melbourne Park's Margaret Court Arena, Victoria Police Superintendent John Cooke said today. Officers would respond in "exactly the same way" if a similar situation occurred at the two-week event, he said.

"It had got to the point where these people were threatening the physical safety of our officers," Cooke told reporters. "Our members are not punching bags. They were of the opinion that they were about to be seriously assaulted and they've deployed the spray."

Cooke denied newspaper reports that about 30 people, including women and children, were affected by secondary doses of the spray. Ten spectators, who were not among the troublemakers, were treated at the scene, he said.

The Melbourne branch of the Hellas Fan Club, an organization that represents Greek supporters around the world, said in a statement it may take legal action.

"Many members were treated unfairly and some injured by Victoria Police, and as such the club is considering its legal position and any potential action which may be undertaken," the club said in a statement.

Police were called to Margaret Court Arena about 8.30 p.m. local time after complaints from sections of the crowd that the supporters had been abusive and were singing offensive chants in Greek and English.

Organizers of the year's first Grand Slam last week announced a "zero-tolerance" policy toward anti-social behavior following crowd disturbances on the opening day of the 2007 edition. Then, 150 mostly Serbian and Croatian spectators were ejected after clashing with flag poles and bottles.

Tournament Director Craig Tiley said today he was satisfied with the actions of the police and that no damage had been done to the tournament's reputation.

"The poor behavior of a small handful of people, we're just not going to tolerate," Tiley told reporters. "We're not going to allow it to disrupt the fan-friendly environment we've worked so hard on creating."

In a separate incident, a 12-year-old girl was sexually assaulted on the tournament's opening day, police said.

"Somebody has reported an assault on a 12-year-old girl," Cooke said. "It is a very, very, very minor assault."