Andy Roddick and James Blake gave the United States a formidable 2-0 lead over defending champions Russia, putting the Americans one point away from their first Davis Cup crown in 12 years.

Roddick was untouchable on his serve in beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, while Blake turned in a gutsy performance to wrest a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3) triumph from Mikhail Youzhny on the opening day of the best-of-five match World Group final.

Their victories set the stage for the top-ranked doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan to seal America’s first Davis Cup trophy since 1995, when they beat Russia in the final. The Bryan brothers are slated to take on Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev.

Blake needed three-and-a-half hours to subdue Youzhny, saying his willingness to stick with a more risky aggressive style was te key to the victory.  After Blake converted the first break point of the fourth set to take a 5-4 lead, he was immediately broken as he served for the match.

Undaunted, he held on to force the tiebreaker, and said that when things got tight he drew on the memory of his four-set loss to Thomas Johansson in the semifinals in Sweden.

After taking the opening set 6-3, Blake earned the first break of the second set in the third game. But Youzhny broke back and they went on serve to the tiebreaker, Blake wasting five break points in the ninth game.

Youzhny gained the upper hand in the third set with a break in the fifth game, but Blake briefly put the brakes on the Russian’s comeback bid when he he broke him to love as Youzhny served for the set.

Blake then won his third game in a row to make it 6-5, before Youzhny held to force the tiebreaker.