HOUSTON -- The United States has the lead and history on its side in its Davis Cup match with Spain.

Todd Martin and James Blake waited out a lengthy rain delay Saturday, then picked up right where they left off and beat Alberto Martin and Juan Balcells in straight sets to give the United States a 2-1 lead over Spain in the best-of-five quarterfinal.

The Americans won 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 on the grass court. In it's last 41 Davis Cup matches, the United States has a 22-1 record when it wins the doubles as it did easily against the Spaniards.

"We jelled pretty good as a team," Todd Martin said. "After what happened yesterday, it was a little bit of a nervous evening for me. We went out and played well. It's easy to play with James as a partner."

Andy Roddick, 6-0 in Davis Cup play, can clinch the series by beating Alex Corretja in Sunday's first singles match. Pete Sampras is slated to play Tommy Robredo in the second match.

"It will be a difficult match but Andy will bring a lot of firepower and he thrives on situations like this," U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe said. "Corretja can give anybody trouble if he can beat Pete Sampras on grass."

Corretja upset seven-time Wimbledon champ Sampras on Friday, and the Spaniard was supposed to pair with Balcells for the doubles.

But Corretja's hand was slightly swollen from a fall during his match against Sampras, so Spanish captain Jordi Arrese decided shortly before Saturday's action started to go with Alberto Martin instead.

Arrese said he had no update on Corretja's condition.

The U.S. squad was steady throughout the doubles match, racing to a 6-1, 3-2 lead when rain halted play. After delay of 1 hour, 40 minutes, the players returned to the court -- and the Americans stayed in control.

"I don't think I played my best but I felt it was the best effort I could give," Balcells said. "Changing partners didn't make a difference. We are accustomed to playing the same together so there was no difference."

With the score 2-2 in the third set, the United States got the last service break it needed, with Blake hitting a forehand service return winner past a diving Alberto Martin.

Serving for the match at 5-4, the United States quickly capitalized on its first match point, with Balcells returning Todd Martin's serve into the net.

Now the attention turns to Sunday's deciding singles matches. Todd Martin expects a big comeback for Sampras.

"We felt we needed to give Pete some space but I didn't expect the Pete we saw today," Martin said. "He was shooting baskets and leading warmup drills. It gave me a sense of comfort knowing he'd still be prepared if we didn't go out and do our jobs today."

The countries last met in the Davis Cup in 2000, with Spain sweeping a semifinal at home 5-0 en route to its only title. The United States has won 31 championships.

The winner of the U.S.-Spain series will play defending champion France or the Czech Republic in the semifinals. The French lead their quarterfinal 2-1.

On the other side of the draw, Russia eliminated Sweden by taking a 3-0 lead Saturday, while Argentina leads Croatia 2-1.

At Pau, France, Fabrice Santoro and Michael Llodra put the French within one match of victory, beating Jiri Novak and David Rikl 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. In Sunday's singles, Sebastien Grosjean plays Novak, and Nicolas Escude faces Bohdan Ulihrach.

At Moscow, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin teamed to put Russia in its first Davis Cup semifinal since 1999. They defeated Thomas Johansson and Jonas Bjorkman 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-3.

At Buenos Aires, Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Ljubicic rallied from a two-set deficit to keep Croatia in its series against Argentina. Ivanisevic and Ljubicic topped Guillermo Canas and Lucas Arnold 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 8-6 in a 3-hour, 20-minute match on clay. Argentina won both singles matches Friday.