Rising ethnic tensions boiled over at the Australian Open on Friday, as insults, bottles and chairs were hurled back and forth between dozens of Bosnian and Serbian youths who had earlier peacefully watched a match.
Watch the brawl
 Bosnian and Serbian fans clashed outside Rod Laver Arena on Friday, with 30 fans being ejected after the chair-throwing fracus. Watch video |
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 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.
