Advantage America in Davis Cup final

Andy Roddick and James Blake won their singles matches yesterday to give the United States a commanding 2-0 lead over defending champions Russia in the Davis Cup final in Portland.

The Americans are bidding to end their longest ever Davis Cup drought and they enjoyed an excellent start as Roddick won the opening match of the day, routing Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 6-4 6-2 in just under two hours.

Later in the evening, Blake outlasted Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) in a match that lasted 3 hours, 28 minutes.

The United States are seeking their record 32nd Davis Cup title but their first since 1995, when they beat the Russians in Moscow.

They are also looking to avenge a 3-2 loss to the Russians in last year's semi-finals when Tursunov outlasted Roddick in a five-set marathon in the deciding match.

Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev opted to have Tursunov face world number six Roddick again in the opening match but the 25-year-old American turned the tables with a dominant performance in front of a crowd of nearly 13,000 at the Memorial Coliseum.

Roddick improved to 3-1 lifetime against Tursunov and raised his Davis Cup career mark to 26-9 by serving 24 aces in a one-sided match.

In the later game, Blake needed just 35 minutes in the first set, serving three aces and winning 17 of 19 points on his first serve.

He survived a 66-minute second set, despite landing just 47% of his first serves, before Youzhny finally broke through in the third set.

But the Russian committed 15 unforced errors and won just four of his 14 second serves, while Blake won nine of 11 to prevail in the fourth set.

Nikolay Davydenko has been kept out of the singles matches for Russia and will only play in the doubles competition. Despite being the world's fourth-ranked player, he has a combined 0-11 lifetime record against Roddick and Blake.

Davydenko will partner Igor Andreev today against the United States' top-ranked doubles tandem of Bob and Mike Bryan in a match that the Russians must win to keep their championship hopes alive.

The Bryan brothers are 12-1 all-time in Davis Cup play and have been the world's best doubles team for three straight years.

In Sunday's reverse singles, Roddick takes on Youzhny and Blake meets Tursunov.