Why can't we have dolphin instead of snake?

Honestly, I have no idea why the organizers like to put the tennis players together with animals. Especially when they put them together with a slithering scary snake.

Jarmila Groth, Tzvetana Pironkova and Juan Ignacio Chela had to deal with their fear in a photo shoot yesterday.

Vania King, Potito Starace, Ivan Ljubicic, and Thomas Berdych were luckier. They got dolphins earlier this week.

(Images by Getty Images)

Shahar Peer, Melinda Czink win in Guangzhou, Quebec City respectively

Controversial Israeli player Shahar Peer won her first WTA Tour title in three years, beating Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-4 in the Guangzhou Open final.

Peer’s last championships came in Prague, Istanbul and Pattaya in 2006.

In the doubles event, Olga Govortsova and Tatiana Poutchek win their first title after defeating Date Krumm and Tiantian Sun .

In Quebec City, Melinda Czink won her first career singles title after beating Lucie Safarova 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 at the Bell Challenge on Sunday.

In the doubles final, Vania King and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova defeated Sofia Arvidsson and Severine Bremond-Beltrame 6-1, 6-3.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Bob Bryan finds new joy with new partner Liezel Huber

Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan beat Vania King and Marcelo Melo 5-7, 7-6 (5), 10-7 to win the French Open mixed doubles championship.

Look at Huber's face. Haha... she doesn't look so comfortable in the beginning...

The title is Bryan’s second consecutive in mixed doubles at the French Open and his sixth Grand Slam mixed doubles title overall—each with a different partner.

“It’s gotten better and better each time,” he said.

But she began to feel comfortable and they started teasing each other...

... then she touched his face...

Bryan also has won seven men’s doubles major championships with twin brother Mike. They lost in the semifinals at Roland Garros earlier Thursday to Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium.

“This was a way for me to feel good, you know, to leave here with a win, leave here with a trophy, big title and a Grand Slam,” Bryan said.

... and as they walked, he put his arm on her shoulder...

... all's well ends well, and it ended with a kiss.

For Huber, it’s her first mixed doubles Grand Slam title. She has won four women’s doubles major championships.

“I’m so grateful for playing with Bob,” she said.

“I truly think we wouldn’t have won this title without him.”

(Via AP, Images by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Quotes from the weekend winners

“I was playing with 15,000 people. Everybody was behind me today.
The crowd was magic."
~ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said after defeating David Nalbandian 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Paris Masters and becoming the 8th players to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai next week.

“Winning in Bastad and Stockholm and finishing off with Paris it’s nothing that I could have really expected. This is way beyond my goals at the end here so I just hope the good omen continues in Shanghai.”

~ Jonas Bjorkman said after he and Kevin Ullyett defeated Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

"It was really wonderful to win this event. To finish off the season like this is wonderful. Now I have a long journey ahead of me to Doha, but it'll definitely be worth it. And then it'll be really nice to put the racquets aside for a few weeks!"

~ Nadia Petrova beat Bethanie Mattek 4-6 6-4 6-1 to take the Quebec City title and qualify for WTA Championship in Doha.

In the doubles final, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Vania King dismissed Jill Craybas and Tamarine Tanasugarn in only two sets, 7-6(3), 6-4. No quotation was available.

(Via Yahoo! Sport, ATP website, Sony Ericsson WTA website)

Dinara Safina beats Svetlana Kuznetsova to win Pan Pacific Open, moves up to no. 3

Dinara Safina will move up to No. 3 in the world rankings after dominating Russian compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3 Sunday to win the Pan Pacific Open.

The victory gave the fourth-seeded Safina her fourth WTA singles title this season, tying her with No. 1 Serena Williams for the most this year.

“I’ve played the best tennis this week I’ve ever played,” Safina said.

“It’s always nice to move up in the rankings and hopefully I can keep improving.”

Safina broke with a cross-court forehand from the baseline to go up 3-2 in the second set, and then broke for the third time in the final game, winning the match when the fifth-seeded Kuznetsova sent a forehand volley wide.

Safina has also won this year in Los Angeles, Montreal and Berlin.

She said pressuring Kuznetsova was the key on Sunday.

“I knew I had to keep the pressure on her from the start,” said Safina, who had seven aces.

“She is a good player and can put pressure on you so it was important for me to take my chances early.”

It was the 10th meeting between the two Russians, with Safina having won six of them.

Kuznetsova, a former U.S. Open champion, was bidding for her first title in 2008.

“It’s disappointing but I’ll try to be honest and positive,” Kuznetsova said.

“I came here after the clay court Fed Cup and really didn’t expect to get to the final so this isn’t a bad result for me.”

Kuznetsova said Safina can become the world’s top player.

“She has a chance to reach No. 1,” Kuznetsova said.

“She works hard and has a lot of energy. She has a bigger stroke than Jelena (Jankovic), and Serena (Williams) doesn’t play in that many tournaments these days.”

The doubles final, which followed after the singles final, pitted No.2-seeded duo Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur against unseeded team Petrova and Vania King.

And it was the underdog pairing of King and Petrova that prevailed, beating the two-time Grand Slam-winning team of Raymond and Stosur in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

King and Petrova won their first title as a team; it was King's fifth individual Tour doubles title and Petrova's 14th.

(Images by Yahoo! Sports, Sony Ericsson WTA website)