The hosts enjoyed a strong start to men’s competition at the United States Tennis Association National Campus.

Casey Ratzlaff secured a comfortable victory over Colombia’s Manuel Sanchez in the first singles rubber.

The American dropped just one game as he eased to a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Colombia hit back when Eliecer Oquendo battled to a 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 win over Chris Herman.

The US faced the prospect of defeat when they trailed in the doubles after losing the first set 6-1.

Herman and Ratzlaff battled back to win the second 6-4, before coming from behind in the decisive match tiebreak, which they won 11-9.

Chile earned a 2-1 victory in their opening match of the qualifier as they saw off the challenge of Ecuador.

Jaime Sepulveda triumphed 6-1, 7-5 against Ecuador’s Eduardo Lopez before Alexander Cataldo kept the tie alive by winning his singles match 6-0, 6-1 against Francisco Beltran.

Lopez and Cataldo then emerged as 6-0, 6-0 winners of the doubles match to give Chile the victory.

The first of four qualification events for the International Tennis Federation’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event is due to continue until Friday (February 2).

The winners of the men's and women's events at each of the four regional competitions will earn qualification for their respective events at the 2018 BNP World Team Cup.

The event is due to take place in Apeldoorn in The Netherlands, from May 28 to June 3 and will be hosted by the Royal Dutch Lawn Tennis Association.

African Qualification is scheduled to place at the Nairobi Club in Kenya and the Asian Qualification event will once again be held at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association in Colombo.

The four regional qualification events then conclude with the European Qualifications, set to be held for the second successive year in Vilamoura in Portugal, organised by the Federacao Portuguesa de Tenis.