LONDON, England (BBC) – World number two Rafael Nadal has come through his first-round doubles match at the Montreal Masters after a lengthy lay-off with tendonitis in both knees.

The 23-year-old teamed up with fellow Spaniard Francisco Roig to beat Serbian duo Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic ahead of playing singles today.

“It’s great to be back and I had a lot of fun playing,” said Nadal.

Meanwhile, Britons Andy Murray and Ross Hutchins lost their first-round clash with Jurgen Melzer and Jeff Coetzee.

Nadal has been away from the tour since losing to Robin Soderling in the French Open fourth round in May – a first-ever defeat at Roland Garros for the four-time champion.

With the US Open nearly three weeks away, Nadal admitted before travelling to Canada that it would be “almost impossible to win” in Montreal and that his only goal was to “train hard and play well”.

His doubles clash alongside Roig – part of his coaching team – was completed with few problems in a 7-5, 6-4 victory and he can now concentrate on starting his defence of the Rogers Cup with a second-round match against compatriot David Ferrer or Serb Viktor Troicki.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer, who recently celebrated his 28th birthday and becoming the father of twin girls, plays on Tuesday against Canadian Frederic Niemeyer, who reached the second round with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

Murray, seeded third for the Masters 1000 event, is back in singles action for the first time since Wimbledon against France’s Jeremy Chardy, conqueror of Yen-hsun Lu, but will have extra recovery time after his doubles defeat.

Scottish world number three and Hutchins dominated with their serve against Melzer and Coetzee and won the opening set 6-3.

But their opponents slowly regained the initiative to eventually see off the British pair, winning the last two sets 6-3, 10-7.

Murray, Britain’s number one, could take the world number two spot from Nadal if he wins the Montreal title, though reaching the semi-finals could be good enough if the Spaniard loses either his first or second match.

The Rogers Cup, part of the ATP’s Masters 1000 series, is a key tournament in the hard-court build-up to the US Open which starts on August 31.