January 28, 2008	Monday	Muharram 18,1429

MELBOURNE, Jan 27: A record number of people flocked to the Australian Open this year with more than 600,000 pouring through the turnstiles and over 30 million visits to the tournament website, organisers said.

In total, 605,735 fans visited Melbourne Park, some 50,000 more than last year.

It is the ninth consecutive year that the season-opening Grand Slam has attracted more than half a million spectators.

Day four saw another record set with the highest ever Grand Slam day/night combined attendance when 62,885 poured through the gates.

Record numbers of people logged onto the official website, www.australianopen.com, with more than 6.6 million people making more than 30 million visits over the course of the tournament. This was up 50 percent from 2007.

The favourite player profiles among fans on the website were Roger Federer and losing women’s finalist Ana Ivanovic, followed by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and champion Maria Sharapova.

Among famous faces at Melbourne Park this year were Australian actresses Nicole Kidman, Rachel Griffiths, and Miranda Otto, as well as Police frontman Sting and cricketer Shane Warne.—AFP