Yanina Wickmayer then defeated Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-0 for a 4-0 lead with only the doubles to come.

Mattek-Sands gave the US team its first set of the weekend when she outlasted Clijsters in the tiebreaker, but the second-ranked Belgian dominated the No. 48 from then on with ease.

"It really feels good to see that 3-0 on the board so soon," Clijsters said.

It is the first time in Fed Cup competition that the Americans have lost two ties in a row, after being defeated by Italy in last year's final.

In Bratislava, Slovakia, the Czech Republic reached its third consecutive Fed Cup semifinal after Australian Open quarterfinalist Petra Kvitova secured the decisive win in the first reverse singles match for a 3-2 victory over Slovakia on Sunday.

The 18th-ranked Kvitova defeated Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2 on hard courts at Sibamac Arena to give the Czechs an unbeatable 3-0 lead.

Jana Cepelova got the first point for Slovakia in the second, meaningless reverse singles, when Lucie Safarova retired due to a muscle injury at 4-6, 7-6 (5). The 17-year-old Cepelova, making her Fed Cup debut, then teamed up with Magdalena Rybarikova to beat Kveta Peschke and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

Belgium will now play the Czech Republic in Charleroi on April 16-17 for a place in the final.

In Moscow, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova won the reverse singles on Sunday to level Russia and France at 2-2 in their World Group first-round series.

Pavlyuchenkova rallied to beat Alize Cornet 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Kuznetsova downed Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-4 to leave the tie to be decided by the doubles match.

France stunned highly favored Russia on Saturday, winning both singles matches to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match up.

Cornet rallied to beat two-time major winner Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Virginie Razzano then took a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sharapova.

Kuznetsova broke in the ninth game of each set and closed the match with an overhead smash on her second match point.

The 14th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova had replaced three-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova, who was originally drawn to play the match.

Cornet always looked likely to break Pavluchenkova from the beginning of the match, and jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set.

The Russian leveled the match at one set each, breaking Cornet decisively in the eighth game. Pavlyuchenkova clinched the win after having double-faulted on her first match point.