GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz won their singles matches to give the United States an unassailable 2-0 lead over Kazakhstan to move atop its Davis Cup Finals group on Thursday.
The Americans are almost assured of reaching the quarterfinals with two wins from two in Group D.
Paul enjoyed a 6-1, 6-4 win over Mikhail Kukushkin before Fritz defeated Alexander Bublik 7-6 (6) 1-6 6-3 in Glasgow, Scotland. Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock were bidding to make it an American whitewash against Bublik and Aleksandr Nedovyesov later.
The Americans now wait to see if the Netherlands can follow suit with a win over the British team on Friday. Britain needs to win after losing to the U.S. on Wednesday. The U.S. will then play the Dutch on Saturday.
Australia came from behind to defeat France 2-1 in their Group C tie in Hamburg, Germany.
Richard Gasquet put the French on track with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Jason Kubler, but Alex De Minaur leveled the tie with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win over Benjamin Bonzi and doubles pairing Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell completed the victory by beating Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-4.
The Australians lead the table with two wins, ahead of Germany which plays Belgium on Friday. The French team lost to Germany on Wednesday.
Also Thursday, Serbia defeated Korea 2-1 in Group B in Valencia, and Sweden was tied with Croatia 1-1 in Group A in Bologna, Italy.
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