Brazilian tennis player Marcos Daniel was restrained by a member of his team after having a physical altercation with a spectator after his match against Alejandro Falla of Colombia at the Australian Open last night.



Falla won the match 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.

"The Tournament Referee's office is looking into the alleged incident," a Tennis Australian spokesman confirmed.



Witnesses courtside said that a scuffle had taken place when the woman approached Daniel, the world number 88, as he was walking away from the court after the match.



The woman was not injured in the alleged incident but witnesses said she had ended up on the ground.



Daniel was not available for comment because he had already left the Melbourne Park tennis complex when officials were notified about the incident.



Under the rules for players at grand slam tournaments, "the unauthorised touching of an official, opponent, spectator or other person" by competitors is strictly forbidden.



Players found guilty of violating the rules can face fines of up to $10,000, the International Tennis Federation said



In other offbeat news from the Open, the match between Belgian Christophe Rochus and American Donald Young was stopped for 40 minutes after a ball boy wet his pants on court 10.



"The ball kid peed on himself. It was unfortunate," Young said.



"It took a while to replace him. Then they had to put the sawdust down, or whatever you put down when somebody throws up.



"Then they had to use the blower (to dry the court) but the blower had no gas in it, so that took even more time."



Young, 20, was up two sets to one and had just broken Rochus to establish a 2-1 lead in the fourth when the incident occurred, but eventually overcame the distraction to win 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.