Catching up on some early exits in Montreal and Toronto including Kyrgios's serve-and-volley masterclass against Medvedev, Tommy Paul's clutch win over Alcaraz, Gauff's scrap against Rybakina and a farewell to Serena from Toronto.

Can you believe how much has happened over the past few days?! We featured a catching up article for the helluvit last week but this week we NEED a catching up article.

So here're five of the most entertaining stories from the first few days of the Canadian Masters.

• Nick Kyrgios's serve-and-volley masterclass against Daniil Medvedev.

• Coco Gauff survives a rough day at the office against Elena Rybakina.

• Clutch from Tommy Paul against Carlos Alcaraz.

• Toronto says goodbye to Serena Williams.

• Stefanos Tsitsipas might be mad against Jack Draper.

Enjoy! ❤️

Kyrgios Serve-and-Volleys to defeat Daniil Medvedev

Nick Kyrgios defeats the world #1 for the second time in his career... and also for the second time in his career defeats Daniil Medvedev on a hard-court without dropping his serve, joining an esteemed list of four other players to have achieved the same feat1.

How did he do it?

Kyrgios employed serve-and-volley throughout the match using it intermittently in the first set before going there near-exclusively in the second and third sets. It's a difficult tactic to carry out but if you've got the chops, it can be such an effective and reliable means of winning service points against Medvedev.

In his abscence, Kyrgios channeled a bit of Novak Djokovic.

... Kyrgios channeling Novak lol? Hear me out.

In the Paris Masters final last year, Djokovic served and approached against Medvedev 31 times and lost three points. He played an absolute masterclass in serve-and-volley in his revenge win over Daniil.

I'm here to tell you there are plenty of parallels between the S&V tactics employed by both Djokovic and Kyrgios.

S&V Out Wide

Rather than prioritising service direction to the forehand or backhand to approach, both players directed the majority of their serves out wide regardless of whether they were in the deuce or the ad box.

• Djokovic directed 65% of his serves when approaching the net out wide throughout the match (20/31).

• Kyrgios directed 66% of his serves when approaching the net out wide in the second and third sets (21/32).

Provided you have the spot-serving to back it up, a serve out wide gives the player an open space to hit their first volley into.

Oooh, such synchronicity...

Short First Volley

The second thing both players did repeatedly was to drop their first volley short in the court.

With Medvedev a good seven metres behind the baseline, a short first volley made it incredibly hard for Daniil to make up the ground.

Aaaah, what a bromance eh?

I guess Novak went from enemy to pal to inspiration?

Serve out wide, approach and volley short to counter Medvedev's unique return style.

Simple.

Shame few players can execute to as high a level as these two.

Coco Survives

Coco Gauff had to come through reigning Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina to earn herself a round of 16 with Aryna Sabalenka (which she is currently winning... might have jinxed it).

It was far from easy though. Let me quickly run you through the drama.

• Gauff was up 6-3 in the tiebreak. Rybakina smacks a forehand return winner on the first match point, Gauff sprays a backhand and the last is saved with a serve + 2 from the Kazakh on the third.

• Gauff gets a fourth bite at the cherry but slightly overcooks a defensive forehand.

• Rybakina's first set point was won with a brave forehand approach and half volley winner (uncharacteristic to say the least).

TOO GOOD.

• Though Gauff got herself to a break up in the third set, the wheels started to come off. Up 4-2, Gauff double faulted three times to hand the break back to Rybakina.

• Gauff breaks back but up 5-3 serving for the match, she double faults ANOTHER three times to hand another break straight back.

We go to a tiebreak. In spite of all of the preceding events, Gauff does this at 4-3...

Everyone's entitled to their opinion on this match...

... but for all of the flaws still to be ironed out in Gauff's game, I see character development and resilience that could be a defining trait for years and years to come.

Playing near her worst, Coco still had the determination to get herself over the line.

Bravo 👏

Tommy Paul defeats Carlos Alcaraz

A quick nod to the gosh-darn clutchery of Tommy Paul in his match against Carlos Alcaraz.

It's clear from the past few months that nothing but insanely clutch will do against Carlitos (regardless of his questionable current form) - Tommy Paul delivered this in spades in the form of first-serves under pressure.

That was...

• Break point down 3-4 in the second set.

• Match point down 6-7 in the second set tiebreak.

• Break point at 0-0 in the third set.

• Break point up 5-3 in the third set.

No in-depth analysis here - making a first-serve is obviously a key to winning big points against the best players in the world.

Just a little tip of my cap to Tommy! 🎩

Toronto Says Goodbye to Serena

Belinda Bencic defeated Serena Williams 6-2 6-4 in the American's last appearance at the Canada Masters.

If you want to watch any of the emotional interview Serena afterwards, here's a tweet showing the whole thing...

This was her second loss this year, the first coming to Harmony Tan at Wimbledon - I'd make the audacious argument Serena was given a bad match-up in both cases.

I ask once more - hear me out.

• Harmony Tan is an extremely versatile player, particularly exceptional at using her slice to drop the ball short and move her opponent around the court.

• Belinda Bencic is arguably top-three best in the game at using the pace of the incoming ball to redirect with depth into the open court - a more-aggressive-than-your-standard-counter-puncher if you will. She was often able to use Serena's big serves against her, frequently removing away her biggest weapon.

Both players are adept at moving their opponent round the court. Serena's movement is undoubtedly lacking compared to her hey-day making these two opponents close to her worst nightmare on court.

If she has any chance at the US Open, I'd argue she'd need a draw full of power hitters she can roll on serve, crossing her fingers her experience would get her through earned tighter situations. I'm thinking players like Samsonova, Rogers, Pliskova, Kvitova, Rybakina, Kudermetova, even Osaka in her current slightly more erratic state.

For me, that would be her only chance.

If there is any chance.

Maybe I'm manifesting...

You Mad Stefanos?

A closing thought on Stefanos Salt-ipas.

Jack Draper recorded the best win of his career in terms of ranking in defeating the world #5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. He adds this scalp to a list including Taylor Fritz, Diego Schwartzman, Jannik Sinner, Jenson Brooksby...

Draper is most definitely here to stay.

I couldn't help but indulge in a bit of drama though. Click through to the tweet below.

If this was intentionally directed at Draper, it wouldn't be entirely surprising given it's not the first time his emotions have turned him to salty violence this year.

• He tried to hit Nick Kyrgios in their Wimbledon third-round multiple times and also smacked a ball dangerously into the crowd.

• He tried to hit Carlos Alcaraz in their Barcelona quarterfinal and also flew off the handle when the umpire penalised him for taking a long toilet break.

• There were a few shots in his second-round encounter with Jenson Brooksby at Indian Wells that were fueled with salt.

I understand Tsitsipas's frustrations with his most recent results but (obviously) this isn't on.

Is it time for Apostolos to get the sack?