A jubilant Blake celebrates his victory over Youzhny

Blake clinched the second singles match after a gritty fightback from his opponent in the three-and-a-half hour clash at Portland's Memorial Coliseum.

Andy Roddick gave the USA the early advantage with a straight sets victory over Dmitry Tursunov.

World number six Roddick sealed the 6-4 6-4 6-2 win in one hour and 52 minutes.

Roddick, aided by the support of the home crowd, secured a single break of serve in each of the opening two sets.

When the crowd stood in that last game of the final set it was probably one of the coolest experiences of my career so far Andy Roddick

And he went from strength to strength in the final set, with two breaks.

The victory gave him some revenge for his 3-2 defeat by Tursunov when the same two countries met at the semi-final stage last year.

"I've been serving pretty well in practice all week," said Roddick. "I felt like I found my groove and that makes it a lot easier when the court is quick enough to take action on the serve."

Roddick also paid tribute to the support he got from the crowd.

"They were amazing and when they stood in that last game of the final set it was probably one of the coolest experiences of my career so far," he said.

World number 13 Blake failed to serve out for the match when leading 5-4 in the fourth set.

606: DEBATE Can the USA take the trophy from champions Russia?

But he held his nerve to clinch the tiebreak 7-3 when 19th-ranked Youzhny netted a forehand.

"Mikhail played great and he's got a lot more experience than me in situations like this," Blake said. "So for me to come through is a big moment for me and for the team."

Russia, the defending champions, omitted top player Nikolay Davydenko from the opening singles.

But world number four Davydenko will team up with Igor Andreev on Saturday to take on brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in the doubles.

The Bryans, winners of five Grand Slam titles together, have lost just one doubles match in 13 Davis Cup appearances.

Friday 30 November - opening singles:
Andy Roddick bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 6-4 6-2
James Blake bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3)

Saturday, 1 December - doubles
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan v Igor Andreev/Nikolay Davydenko