The win leaves the Americans trailing 2-1 ahead of Sunday's reverse singles. The top-ranked Bryan brothers have lost only once in 10 Davis Cup matches in last year's first round against eventual champions Croatia.

Andy Roddick and James Blake lost their singles matches Friday, putting the United States on the verge of elimination on a sluggish clay court at Olympic Stadium. The last time the U.S. rallied from a 2-0 Davis Cup deficit was in 1934 against Australia.

"Andy and James kept coming up to us and saying, 'Give us a chance, give us another shot, let us redeem ourselves.' And that's kind of what we went into the match thinking all the time," Bob Bryan said.

Chasing the first Davis Cup since 1995, the Bryan brothers broke for a 5-3 lead in the first set, with Youzhny surviving two break points before smashing a lob into the net on the third. Bob Bryan served the next game at love to give the Americans the lead.

With Youzhny serving at 3-3 in the second set, the Wimbledon and Australian Open champions rallied from 30-0 down to break. Serving for the set three games later, Bob Bryan fired two aces to put the Americans up 2-0.

They quickly took the lead in the third set, capitalizing on three unforced errors from Tursunov to break the Russians in the opening game. Four straight errors from Tursunov handed the Americans another break in the seventh game and Mike Bryan closed out the match with an ace.

"When we were up two sets love and a break, we stepped on the pedal a little harder, instead of just cruising out the match," Bob Bryan said.

On Friday, Safin justified his selection by Russian coach Shamil Tarpishchev over higher-ranked teammate Nikolay Davydenko by beating Roddick 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Youzhny then defeated James Blake 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Tarpishchev had kept the Americans guessing about who would face the Bryans, and eventually opted for Youzhny and Tursunov as initially planned. It was their second loss in the two Davis Cup matches they have played together.

"The (American) guys played well, and when they're pressing you so hard, it's tough. They served perfectly," said Tursunov, who had trouble with his backhand return after the first set.

Russia, which has not lost at home in 10 years, needs to win one of Sunday's reverse singles matches to secure their first berth in the Davis Cup final since their only title in 2002.

Youzhny is scheduled to face Roddick in the Sunday's first match, with Safin playing Blake in the second, but the choices are subject to change.

The U.S. has rallied from 2-1 down five times.

Two of those recoveries came in 2000, when Andre Agassi and Chris Woodruff won their reverse singles in the first round against Zimbabwe and Pete Sampras clinched the tie against the Czech Republic in the next round after Agassi leveled it 2-2.

In 1981, Roscoe Tanner and John McEnroe won the reverse singles in straight sets against Mexico. The other two U.S. comebacks were in 1961 and 1902.

The semifinal is being played at the same venue where Sampras won all three of his matches on clay in 1995 to help the United States capture its 31st Davis Cup title.

Russia, which has never beaten the United States, beat France in 2002 for its only title.

The winner will face either Australia or Argentina in the final in December.