The US hold a 1-0 lead in their Hopman Cup tie against France after world No.12 Sloane Stephens beat Alize Cornet at Perth Arena.
Stephens, who disposed of Anabel Medina Garrigues in straight sets on Monday, overcame an early challenge from Cornet to post a 7-5 6-0 win in 103 minutes.
Big-serving American John Isner can secure the tie win with victory over world No.10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tsonga beat Isner 6-3 6-2 at last summer's Hopman Cup, but Isner holds a 3-1 advantage over the Frenchman in ATP matches.
Stephens said she was happy with her performance.
"It's not often I win a set 6-0, so I was proud of myself for that. I stayed tough," Stephens said.
"I tried to up my game a bit in the second set to stick into her a little bit.
"I tried to stay solid and stick to my patterns. It worked out well."
Cornet said she was disappointed to falter at key times in the second set.
"The first set was very good from both of us," Cornet said.
"Even the second set was quite good.
"I had a lot of game points but I didn't make any of them. That killed me in the second set."
The US are in a good position to win a record seventh straight Hopman Cup.
But Australia's title drought will stretch into a 16th year after this summer's pairing of Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur slumped to losses against Canada and Italy.
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