Jack Sock and Steve Johnson won their doubles match in three sets Saturday, sending the United States to the Davis Cup quarterfinals with a 3-0 victory over Switzerland.
Sock and Johnson, bronze medalists in men's doubles at the Rio Olympics, beat Henri laaksonen and Adrien Bossel 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Switzerland was without the country's two best players this weekend: 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer and three-time major champ Stan Wawrinka. Federer won the Australian Open last Sunday night.
The US will travel to Australia for the April quarterfinals. Australia advanced with a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic.
"We played together a bunch of times in the past, so just once we get going we get the familiarity back with one another," Johnson said. "Everything kind of clicked toward the end or we got it going, so just keep it rolling."
The Americans are now 158-4 all-time in Davis Cup ties when taking a 2-0 lead. Sock also won a singles match on Friday. Reverse singles will be best-of-three Sunday.
Argentina stay alive
BUENOS AIRES: Defending Davis Cup champion Argentina defeated Italy in doubles on Saturday, saving itself from early elimination in the World Group first-round match on outdoor clay.
Argentina's Carlos Berlocq and leonardo Mayer defeated Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7) after falling behind 2-0 on Friday with two losses in singles.
This is the fourth Davis Cup match between the two nations, and the home nation has never won.
Croatia lead Spain 2-1
OSIJEK: Marin Draganja and Nikola Mektic beat Spain's Feliciano lopez and Marco lopez 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4 to give Croatia a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup first-round match on Saturday.
Croatia's Franko Skugor won the opening World Group singles Friday against Pablo Carreno Busta and then Roberto Bautista Agut evened the score by beating Ante Pavic.
France go through
TOKYO: France completed a 4-1 win over Japan in their Davis Cup World Group first-round tie on Sunday.
France secured a quarterfinal berth on Saturday with a win by the doubles pairing of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut that followed singles victories by Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon.
On Sunday, captain Yannick Noah had the luxury of resting Gasquet and Simon. Mahut replaced Gasquet and took the first set off Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1 before the Japanese player retired with a left wrist injury.
Yasutaka Uchiyama beat Herbert 6-4, 6-4 in the final reverse singles match to restore some pride for the hosts.
Australia win 4-1
MElBOURNE: Australia split Sunday's concluding reverse singles matches with the Czech Republic to complete a comfortable 4-1 win in their Davis Cup first round tie that set up a compelling quarter-final meeting with the United States.
Australian debutant Jordan Thompson beat Jan Satral 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 before Jiri Vesely gained a consolation win for the visitors when he defeated Sam Groth 3-6 7-5 6-3 at the Kooyong tennis club in suburban Melbourne. Australia had already clinched the tie after winning Friday's opening singles and Saturday's doubles, allowing captain lleyton Hewitt to let Groth to replace Nick Kyrgios for the reverse singles.
Groth served for the match in the second set but ended up losing and the whitwash was avoided.