Mackenzie McDonald beat Sergey Fomin 6-4, 6-1 before Tommy Paul, fresh off reaching the Australian Open semifinals, defeated Khumoyun Sultanov 6-1, 7-6 (6).
Paul finished with a 6-1 edge in aces, though he converted only four of his 13 break-point opportunities.
The best-of-five series will conclude Saturday with a doubles match and the two reverse singles matches.
The winner of the series -- and the winner of the other 11 qualifying series being held worldwide this weekend -- will advance to the Davis Cup Finals group stage scheduled for mid-September. The 2022 champions, Canada, and runners-up, Australia, are already in the group stage, while the two wild-card teams, Spain and Italy, will join them.
In other Friday action, Germany and Switzerland split their first two singles matches in Trier, Germany. Switzerland's Marc-Andrea Huesler rallied past Oscar Otte 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 before Germany's Alexander Zverev downed Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-1.
Hungary and France are tied 1-1 in Tatabanya, while Great Britain and Colombia are level at 1-1 in Cota. Serbia hold a 2-0 lead on hosts Norway in Oslo, hosts Sweden are up 2-0 on Bosnia and Herzegovina in Stockholm, while Belgium are also winning 2-0 against South Korea in Seoul.
The other six series will start Saturday:
--Austria at Croatia in Rijeka
--Kazakhstan at Chile in La Serena
--Slovakia at Netherlands in Groningen
--Argentina at Finland in Espoo
--Czech Republic at Portugal in Maia
