The win over Farrukh Dustov and Denis Istomin, which took two hours and 24 minutes, means that Kazakhstan have inched closer to retaining their place among the elite World Group in 2012.

On the opening day Istomin had put the visitors ahead after the opening rubber of the contest and while Dustov was to take a set from his higher ranked opponent, Mikhail Kukushkin, he was powerless to prevent the Kazakh from levelling the tie.

The tie will be decided on Sunday when No. 1 players Mikhail Kukushkin and Denis Istomin will open up the crucial last day's play, followed by Evgeny Korolev versus Dustov.