Svitolina, Peer among second-round winners in Baku

Baku, Azerbaijan – Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine and Israel's Shahar Peer were among the second-round winners Thursday at the Baku Cup.

The seventh-seeded Svitolina cruised through the first set before winning a tiebreaker in the second to come away with a 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) triumph over Italy's Natassja Burnett.

It's the second straight quarterfinal appearance for Svitolina, who reached the semis last week in Bad Gastein. She'll face second-seeded Donna Vekic in Friday's quarterfinals.

Peer knocked off third-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa, rallying for a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory. She has not been past the quarterfinals this year, falling to Alexandra Cadantu in the round of eight at both Katowice in April and Budapest earlier this month.

Cadantu is in the opposite side of the draw this week as the fourth seed and will take on Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva in the quarters. Voskoboeva earned her second quarterfinal of 2013 with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win Thursday over Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova.

Peer will face Slovenia's Tadeja Majeric in the quarters. Majeric advanced Thursday with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over Georgian qualifier Tereza Martincova.

Another qualifier, Poland's Magda Linette, continued her run Thursday with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic. Linette will next take on Tunisian wild card Ons Jabeur, who stunned top seed and defending champion Bojana Jovanovski on Wednesday.

This week's champion will receive a first prize of $40,000.