Defending a title in a different city - 5/2/2011

Date: 5/2/2011
Result: Madrid R1, Li Na def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 6-4 7-6
Why it matters:
- Because of the reorganization of the tennis calendar, putting Rome after Madrid, Martinez Sanchez's big week "defending" the ranking points from her Rome title actually happened this week in Madrid.  In some ways, that could've been really nice for Martinez Sanchez, playing with home crowd support and being in a different city may not carry the same obvious pressure to defend as she could feel in the Italian capital.  But instead, Martinez Sanchez couldn't convert.  Li isn't an easy opponent, that's clear, but Schiavone, Wozniacki, Ivanovic, and Jankovic, all whom Maria Jose beat without losing a set in Rome last year, aren't easy either.  The fact of the matter is that the Spaniard's run in Rome last year is looking more like a fluke every week.  She's a talented player, and definitely better than the mid-80s rank she'll plummet to next week, but she was never the type of player who should be winning one of the more prestigious and historic titles on tour.  Either way, Martinez Sanchez gets to truly defend next week in Rome, but she'll have to do so at her lowest ranking since January 2009.
- Li's piecing things back together.  Since her loss in the Melbourne final from a set up against Clijsters, she'd only won one match.  Li's game is too reliant on going for big flat shots for big winners to ever be extremely effective on clay - her opponents will get too many balls back until Li starts to spray errors.  But if the Chinese #1 wants to cement herself among the game's elite and remain in the conversation as a potential repeat slam finalist (or champion? Wimbledon anyone?), she should work on some patience on the clay so she can be at her most deadly when she heads to England.

Honorable Mentions:
-Madrid R1, Thiemo de Bakker def. Juan Carlos Ferrero - 26 75 64 - After some positive momentum in his first event back, Ferrero stumbles at the first hurdle in Madrid.  One of those players who is not really as much of a "clay-court specialist" as he's considered, Madrid seemed like a perfect fast clay-court for Ferrero to win a round or two.  But de Bakker is also talented on clay, especially fast clay, and just wore down Ferrero over the course of a long match.  Give Ferrero a few weeks to get back to peak condition, but for a player at age 31, his peak may not be high enough to compete at the highest level anymore.
-Madrid R1, Flavio Cipolla def. Andy Roddick - 64 67 63 - This is what happens when you're low on confidence, don't prepare intelligently for a new surface, and comport yourself with a bad attitude.  Even with all this, Roddick shouldn't have lost to the world #160, but he did.  Roddick should just throw in the towel on the clay court season, work on things that will work on the grass, and just think only of Wimbledon.  But unfortunately for him, with his ranking sagging and sub-par grass results last year, his seeding at Wimbledon, even under the adjusted system, won't keep him away from the top players.  So he'll need some wins along the way on the clay (remember, he actually did ok-ish in Paris last year) to boost his seeding in London.