Ivanovic, Halep win openers

Sofia - Ana Ivanovic and Simona Halep cruised to straight-set victories on Tuesday in their opening round-robin matches at the season-ending Tournament of Champions.

Top-seeded Halep of Romania defeated Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3 in the Serdika group, while the other tournament favorite, Ivanovic, routed Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0, 6-2 in the Sredets group.

In Tuesday's third match, third-seeded Maria Kirilenko retired due to injury against France's Alize Cornet, and had to quit the tournament for a second consecutive year.

Cornet was leading 5-0 in the first when Kirilenko called for a medical time out, before later abandoning the competition.

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina will replace Kirilenko.

Results from first day of WTA Tournament of Champions tournament in Sofia (x denotes seeding):

Sredets Group

Ana Ivanovic (SRB x2) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL x8) 6-0, 6-2

Serdika Group

Alize Cornet (FRA x7) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS x3) 5-0 - retired

Simona Halep (ROM x1) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x6) 6-3, 6-3