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Fish sparks on-court bust-up

Perth - American Mardy Fish is unlikely to face any significant sanctions, despite an ugly on-court confrontation with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov at the mixed teams Hopman Cup in Western Australia.

Fish, 30, appeared upset with Dimitrov after the youngster thrashed him 6-2, 6-1 in the men's singles rubber of the clash between the United States and Bulgaria on Friday evening.

The loss to the world No 76 capped a poor week for Fish, who is ranked eighth in the world, but won just one of his three singles matches here.

It was unclear what sparked the feud, although the out-of-form Fish was issued with a code violation during the match for spitting towards Bulgarian fans.

Tensions then escalated significantly during the subsequent mixed doubles, when Fish and Dimitrov argued during a change of ends, leading the match referee, Soren Friemel, to intervene.

Friemel confirmed he would report the incident to Hopman Cup organisers, but said it was unlikely to be passed on to the International Tennis Federation.

Speaking after the singles match, Dimitrov played down the bad blood between the pair.

"I think it's better if you ask him," he said.

"I'm sorry if I did something wrong.

"I'm also going to apologise to him in the lockers when I see him, but I don't want to say much else about it."

Fish did not comment after the match, and would not discuss the issue on Twitter.

"There's nothing there, great talent he is," he said in response to a message from a journalist chasing more information.

"Will be a good player for a long time."

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