Top seeds Halep, Kontaveit earn straight-set wins in Romania

CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania (AP) — Simona Halep has won a battle of generations in Romanian tennis by defeating Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round of the Transylvania Open. Ruse is one of the up-and-coming talents of Romanian tennis but quickly found herself down 5-0 against Halep and dropped her serve two more times in the second set. The top-seeded Halep plays Varvara Gracheva of Russia for a place in the quarterfinals. The second-seeded Anett Kontaveit also advanced to the second round.