Andy Roddick hauled the United States back into their Davis Cup World Group quarter-final with Sweden after a 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Thomas Enqvist levelled the tie 1-1 on Friday.
Jonas Bjorkman, the main pillar of Sweden's surprise win over holders Australia in the first round, had given his team a positive start at Delray Beach, Florida, beating Mardy Fish 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 in the opening singles rubber.
But world number two Roddick overcame shaky serving to leave the tie finely balanced ahead of Saturday's doubles between Americans Mike and Bob Bryan and the Swedish pairing of Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson.
With the Bjorkman-Fish match interrupted three times by rain, Roddick and Enqvist had a lengthy wait to engage their rivalry.
Both made a slow start, exchanging two breaks of serve each before Roddick held for 5-4 and broke again in the 10th game to claim the first set.
TURNING POINT
The turning point arrived at 5-5 in the second when world number 62 Enqvist squandered two break points, allowing Roddick to move 6-5 ahead.
The American took the initiative, grabbing the second of his two break points in the next game.
Enqvist's resistance effectively ended when he failed to capitalise on two more break points at the start of the third set.
In the first rubber, Fish, recalled by U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe, began confidently against Bjorkman with an immediate break of serve.
After the first of the three rain delays, the players returned for Fish to close out the first set.
But after an early exchange of breaks in the second, Bjorkman broke again to establish a 4-2 lead.
A struggling Fish was broken twice in the third set and, although he saved one match point on his serve at 3-5 in the fourth before holding and breaking back for 5-5, Bjorkman was unmoved.
The world number 27 took his Davis Cup record to 34-14 by breaking Fish in the 11th game and made no mistake closing out the victory.
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