Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hrbaty won the 2009 Hopman Cup with victory over the Russian brother-sister team of Dinara Safina and Marat Safin in Perth on Friday.

Russia had been the favorites to win the mixed team event since world No.3 Dinara Safina and No.29 Marat Safin were ranked much higher than their respective singles opponents. However, not everything goes in accordance with the ranking.

World number 19 Cibulkova beat Safina 6-7(3) 6-1 6-4 for the first time, while world number 250 Hrbaty edged out the two-time Grand Slam champion Safin 6-7(5) 7-5 7-6(3).

The Slovak Republic have won their third Hopman Cup title. (sources: Reuters, Hompan Cup)

Here’s a sneak peek of the adidas outfits Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki will be wearing at the 2009 Australian Open.

In the first picture Safina is working the Competition Cap Sleeve Tee in pool paired with the skort from the Competition line in white. The second outfit features the Competition Top in yellow and the Competition Skort in black. Read more »

Russian WTA players received well-deserved awards from their home country. Dinara Safina, Elena Demetieva, Anna Chakvetadze, Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova were present at the event. Read more »

We have recently featured childhood photos of Dinara Safina with her family in our series of young pictures of tennis players, but here’s a super adorable addition – the current world No.3's first steps in tennis. It’s a must watch.

(via Forty Deuce)

American Venus Williams recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the opening set to defeated Russian Dinara Safina 7-5 6-3.

Safina, the debutant at the Sony Ericsson Championships, let the two-time semifinalist Williams win five straight games to take the first set. Williams had little trouble in closing out the win in the second.

Second seed Safina will play Serena Williams in her next round-robin match, while seventh-seeded Venus Williams will play Olympic champion Elena Dementieva. (photo: Getty Images)