Rafael Nadal had to battle all the way for a bruising 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-2 victory over little-known German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning his match against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 19, 2007.[Reuters]

His potential quarter-final opponent, Lleyton Hewitt, also had to fight hard for his 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-4 success over Canadian Frank Dancevic .

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"I feel very good, he was a very tough player and was returning very aggressively," second seed Nadal told the crowd after receiving a standing ovation."

The muscle-bound Nadal has often made tennis look like a contact sport and on Thursday he was given a taste of his own medicine.

Ranked 61st in the world, Kohlschreiber took little notice of his underdog status and matched Nadal blow for blow, producing bludgeoning forehands from every corner of the court.

Aiming to level the second set at 2-2, Kohlschreiber rammed the ball straight into Nadal. The Spaniard doubled over but not before his tremendous sense of reflex had allowed him to smack the ball over the net.

Stretched face down on the ground, Nadal immediately pushed up on to his hands to see if he had won the point. What he saw was the ball floating past above his head as Kohlschreiber had made the final contact.

Fired up by the audacity of his opponent, Nadal dusted off his bulging biceps and then reacted the only way he knows how -- to come out fighting and after 3-1/2 hours he sealed victory at 0130 local time.

As Nadal battled into the small hours of the morning, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis were safely tucked up in bed.

LAGGED BEHIND

Hingis and Clijsters entered the two showcourts at Melbourne Park at almost the same time for their matches, both eager to get back to the locker room the quickest.

Fourth seed Clijsters crossed the tape first, whipping Japan's Akiko Morigami 6-3 6-0 in 59 minutes under a closed roof in the Rod Laver Arena.

Hingis, seeded sixth, lagged behind by nine minutes but was impressive in a 6-2 6-2 win over hapless Russian teenager Alla Kudryavtseva.

Clijsters, aiming to add the Australian Open title to her 2005 Flushing Meadows success, said: "We almost won at around the same time and then we came into the locker room and she's like, 'Damn, you beat me, you were there first'."

After struggling to stay on her feet during a three-hour battle in the roasting conditions two days ago, Maria Sharapova's ruthless streak was back on show on Thursday.

She whizzed around court as if she was on roller skates and flattened Russian compatriot Anastassia Rodionova 6-0 6-3 in 58 minutes.

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