Nadal battles into third round

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 yesterday.

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.

"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 yesterday 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.

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 1:30 a.m., Australian time.

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

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 earlier, Maria Sharapova's ruthless streak was back on show yesterday.

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

Fans can look forward to seeing a lot more of a bearded James Blake after he dispatched fellow American Alex Kuznetsov 6-4 6-1 6-2.

"Once I start winning, I don't shave, it's a superstition," the fifth seed, who won the Sydney International title last weekend, told the crowd. "Once something starts working you've got to stick with it."

Murray through

British teenager Andy Murray could have done with sticking to the form of his previous match. The 15th seed, who dropped only one game in the first round, was made to hang around a lot longer for a 7-6 7-5 6-4 win over Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco.

Burly Argentine David Nalbandian set up an intriguing third-round showdown against Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean following a 6-4 6-4 6-4 triumph over Nicolas Lapentti.

Hewitt gave his army of hollering fans plenty of anxious moments as he continued his mission to end Australia's search for their first men's champion since 1976.

Having come into the tournament with a question mark hanging over his fitness, he was happy to follow up his previous five-set win with a two-hour, 48-minute battle yesterday.

"Coming in, I didn't have too much match practice and I've now had a lot of match practice. That can only be a good thing," Hewitt said.