The United States was level with Kazakhstan at 1-1 in the World Team Cup after Mardy Fish defeated Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-2 and Mikhail Kukushkin outlasted Sam Querrey 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Serbia led Russia 2-0 thanks to Dusan Lajovic, who substituted for the injured Janko Tipsarevic, overcoming Igor Andreev 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, and Viktor Troicki overwhelming Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-1.
Germany took a 1-0 lead over Spain as Florian Mayer defeated Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Fish recovered from losing the opening game against Golubev, but immediately broke back and then broke a second time for the set. After breaking to lead 2-0 in the second, he fought off three break points to hold for 5-2 before breaking again for victory.
''I served well,'' Fish said. ''I got a lot of free points on my serve. It (the court) is playing really slow, the balls are pretty heavy and the court's just soft right now because of the rain, so to be able to get a few free points off my serve was key.
''I felt I had a pretty nice feeling on my return games as well. You know there are not many guys that are going to serve you off the court on a court like this one here, so you're going to have your looks.''
Querrey served for victory against Kukushkin at 5-4 in the second set, but failed for the second straight day to close out the match. On Monday he led Sweden's Robin Soderling by a set and 5-3 before losing in three sets.
The U.S. will play a doubles on Wednesday to decide the outcome of the second of its round-robin ties.
Fish reached the doubles final in Rome last week, but partner Andy Roddick was forced to default the match due to a right shoulder injury. As a consequence, the ATP took the decision not to award the team prize money as the losing finalists, but pay them for reaching only the semifinals.
''I didn't think it was very fair,'' Fish said. ''I don't know why the rule is like that. I'm sure there are smarter people than me that are making the rules (but) it certainly doesn't seem fair. Of course we're going to appeal.''
