ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Second-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia reached the World Tennis Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7) second-round win against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Neither player faced a break-point in the first set, but Muller saved five in the second.

Cilic had two match points at 6-4 in the tiebreak, but then saved a set point at 7-6 down as Muller fought back strongly.

The 2014 US Open champion next plays Philipp Kohlschreiber, who won 6-4, 6-2 against qualifier Ivan Dodig of Croatia.

The German proved clinical on Dodig’s serve, converting four of five break-point chances, and solid on his own — winning 75 percent of points on second serve.

Later, fifth-seeded Gael Monfils of France played 19-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia.

There were also remaining first-round matches.

Fritz wins opener in Memphis

Teenager Taylor Fritz, a promising American, won his opening-round match in the Memphis Open on Tuesday night beating Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-4.

It was the second ATP World Tour win for the 18-year-old. Fritz relied on 10 aces and solid ground game to move into the second round, where he’ll play No. 2 seed Steve Johnson.

The tournament’s top four seeds — defending champion Kei Nishikori and Americans Johnson, Donald Young and Sam Querrey — received first-round byes.

Fritz, ranked 145th, rose nearly 1,000 spots in the ATP rankings last year and won for the first time in the US

In other first-round matches Tuesday, No. 7 seed John Millman and No. 8 Damir Dzumhur advanced. Also, Spain’s Marcel Granollers beat Malek Jaziri of Tunisia, 6-1, 6-3; Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen defeated Australian Matthew Ebden, 6-1, 3-0 (retired) and Ricardas Berankis beat Dudi Sela, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-5.

Millman advanced with a 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5 victory over American Austin Krajicek and Dzumhur beat American Tim Smyczek, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

With the win, Millman surpassed his match-win total from a year ago. He went 5-9 in 2015. He is 6-4 after defeating Krajicek.

Millman said he gained confidence behind a strong finish to last season. He opened his year with a third-round finish at the Australian Open. He made the quarterfinals of last week’s ATP Tour event in Montpellier, France.

Laaksonen came through last weekend’s two-rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw and claim his first ATP Tour-level victory since 2014. The match ended prematurely in the second set when Ebden retired with a left leg injury. Laaksonen plays Querrey, who won 2010 Memphis tournament, in Wednesday’s second round.

Venus finally off the mark

Venus Williams finally registered her first tour win of 2016 as she powered past Lee Pei-chi 6-3, 6-2 at the Taiwan Open on Wednesday to set up a clash with Urszula Radwanska.

The top seed and world No. 12 broke Taiwan’s Lee, aged 21 and ranked 529th, three times in their first career meeting as she cantered to victory in less than an hour.

It put the seven-time Grand Slam champion, 35, into the second round for the first time this season after she lost her opening matches at both Auckland and the Australian Open.

Elsewhere, third seed Yulia Putintseva beat Japan’s Miyu Kato 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 in round two, but fellow Kazakh seed Zarina Diyas fell 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 to Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova.