The USA took a 2-1 lead over Chile after twins Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Paul Capdeville and Adrian Garcia 6-1 6-2 6-4 in Saturday's doubles rubber.
The Bryans had expected to face Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez, who teamed up to win Olympic doubles gold in Athens in 2004.
But Chile surprisingly decided to save their star players for the singles.
"There was a little bit of a relief to see the other guys come out," Bob Bryan said after the win in Rancho Mirage.
In Pau, France prevented Russia from reaching the semi-finals by winning the doubles rubber to pull the score back to 1-2.
"There was a bit of a relief to see the other guys come out"
Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra teamed up to beat Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-3 6-7 (7-3) 5-7 6-2.
Russia had taken a 2-0 lead on the opening day through Marat Safin and Nikolay Davydenko.
Australia reached the Davis Cup semis after beating Belarus in their doubles rubber to take an unbeatable 3-0 lead.
Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley beat Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov 3-6 6-4 5-7 6-3 7-5 for their third victory in the best-of-five tie in Melbourne.
But holders Croatia are 2-1 down in their home tie against Argentina and now need to win both reverse singles.
Jose Acasuso and David Nalbandian beat Marin Cilic and Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 6-2 3-6 6-4 to put the heat on the hosts.
Argentina achieved a key breakthrough in the opening game of the match, breaking Cilic, ranked 378 in the world, who had replaced the injured Mario Ancic.
If Ancic misses out again on Sunday because of his back problem, Agustin Calleri will likely face Sasa Tuksar, ranked 159.