France will meet Serbia in the semifinals of the Davis Cup after both finished off their last-eight ties inside two days on Saturday but Australia and Belgium were made to sweat.
Serbia, who had been given a flying start by 12-times grand slam champion Novak Djokovic on Friday on his comeback from an elbow injury, completed a 3-0 victory over Spain in Belgrade.
A weakened France also proved too strong for a British team without Andy Murray in Rouen as they too moved into an unassailable position at 3-0.
The US pair of Jack Sock and Steve Johnson kept their country’s hopes alive as they beat Australia’s Sam Groth and John Peers 3-6 6-3 6-2 2-6 6-3 in Brisbane.
Australia had taken a 2-0 lead on Friday when Jordan Thompson stunned Sock and Nick Kyrgios eased past John Isner.
Belgium were also leading 2-0 after the first day of their tie against Italy in Charleroi but were pegged back as Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi clawed out a five-set win against home duo Rubens Bemelmans and Joris de Loore.
Bemelmans and de Loore had a match point to win the tie in the fifth set tiebreak but the Italians nicked it 8-6.
France are in the semifinals for the fifth time in eight years after Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut beat British duo Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot 7-6(7) 5-7 7-5 7-5.
It was revenge for France’s defeat by Britain in 2015 when Andy Murray inspired his nation to the title.