The United States easily advanced out of its Davis Cup qualifying series by winning both matches against host Uzbekistan on Saturday in Tashkent.
Coming in with a 2-0 lead already, Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram defeated Sanjar Fayziev and Sergey Fomin in doubles 6-2, 6-4. Denis Kudla polished off the 4-0 win with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Amir Milushev.
The Americans -- and the winner of the other 11 qualifying series being held worldwide this weekend -- advance to the Davis Cup Finals group stage scheduled for mid-September. The 2022 champion, Canada, and runner-up, Australia, are already entered in the group stage, and two wild-card teams will be added.
Also Saturday, Switzerland defeated German 3-2 in Trier, Germany, to move on. With the match deadlocked at 1-1 coming in, the Germans went ahead on the strength of taking the doubles match 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4.
However, the Swiss rebounded with the final two wins in singles -- Marc-Andrea Huesler defeating Alexander Zverev 6-2, 7-6 (4) followed by Stan Wawrinka's 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over Daniel Altmaier.
In other action Saturday, France defeated Hungary 3-2 in Tatabanya, Hungary, Great Britain beat Colombia 3-1 in Cota, Colombia, Serbia swept past host Norway 4-0 in Oslo, and host Sweden defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 in Stockholm.
The other six series will resume Sunday:
Croatia leads Austria 2-0
Chile-Kazakhstan are tied 1-1
Belgium leads South Korea 2-0
Netherlands leads Slovakia 2-0
Finland-Argentina are tied 1-1
Czech Republic leads Portugal 2-0
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