German Philipp Kohlschreiber said he relished his bruising three and a half hour clash with second seed Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open second round on Thursday.

The world number 61 pushed the Spaniard all the way, slugging it out in ferocious baseline rallies and twice blasting his opponent with the ball when he came into the net before losing in four sets.

"It was a very physical clash and we had some really good rallies," the 23-year-old told reporters. "At the end he was a little bit stronger than me but I played well."

The German twice directed fierce shots straight at the onrushing Nadal, hitting him once on the thumb and once forcing the Spaniard to take evasive action before just getting his racket to the ball.

"It's tough if it's not safe to pass him, sometimes it's better to play the ball fast down the middle," Kohlschreiber said. "Sometimes you have to do that. I don't think he had a problem with it."

Kohlschreiber enjoyed the atmosphere at the night match on Rod Laver Arena which finished at 0130 local time.

"It was quite fun out there," he said. "I had a lot of supporters, maybe more than him. The crowd was behind me and it was really fun to play in such a big match."