The United States moved to the brink of advancing out of its Davis Cup qualifying series by winning both singles matches against host Uzbekistan on Friday in Tashkent.
Mackenzie McDonald beat Sergey Fomin 6–4, 6–1 before Tommy Paul, fresh off reaching the Australian Open semifinals, defeated Khumoyun Sultanov 6–1, 7–6 (6).
Paul finished with a 6–1 edge in aces, though he converted only four of his 13 break-point opportunities.
The best-of-five series will conclude Saturday with a doubles match and the two reverse singles matches.
The winner of the series—and the winner of the other 11 qualifying series being held worldwide this weekend—will 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….