USA leads Uzbekistan 2-0 in Davis Cup qualifying

Current form held true for Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz, as the pair of 22-year olds wasted little time putting the U.S. up 2-0 over Uzbekistan on Day 1 of this Davis Cup by Rakuten Qualifying tie in Honolulu.

Opelka, fresh off his second career ATP singles title, defeated tour veteran Denis Istomin, 6-2, 7-5, in 1 hour, 21 minutes, for his first Davis Cup victory, and Fritz, who reached the final at Acapulco last week, picked up his second Davis Cup victory and first on home soil by overcoming a gamey effort from 498th-ranked Sanjar Fayziev to win, 6-2, 6-1, in 1 hour, 5 minutes.

"These guys played great today," U.S. captain Mardy Fish said. "First match was really impressive by Reilly. And Taylor, not knowing too much about his opponent, came out and played pretty impressive tennis. These guys keep getting better and better every time I see them live, and they're building something special as far as the team is concerned.

"These guys, the youngsters are all really, really close, genuinely. So it's fun to sort of be alongside watching them build something."

The Americans now turn to Bob and Mike Bryan to book the USA’s trip to the 2020 Madrid Finals, as the Bryans will play their last Davis Cup match on Saturday vs. Istomin and Fayziev at 1 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET). Bob and Mike are the USA’s all-time winningest Davis Cup doubles team with a 24-5 record together, and will look for their 25th and final Davis Cup victory on Saturday, as they plan on retiring after the 2020 US Open.

The Bryans are 2-0 all-time vs. Denis Istomin, having won 6-3, 6-1, in Stuttgart in 2016 (Istomin and Ilya Marchenko) and 6-3, 6-2, in the finals in Beijing in 2012 (Istomin and Carlos Berlocq).

An amended singles schedule will take place on Saturday should the U.S. clinch in the third or fourth match.

Saturday’s matches can be seen live on CBSSports.com and on the CBS Sports App, starting at 6 p.m. EST.

Fans that miss the action live can also watch Day 1 action on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, March 8, at 7 a.m. EST, and Day 2 action on Thursday, March 12, at 9 p.m. EST.