America’s Madison Keys has evened the Fed Cup tie with Australia 1-1 after convincingly defeating Queenslander Kimberly Birrell in the second singles rubber in North Carolina.

Ash Barty opened the tie with a 6-1 7-6 win for Australia over Sofia Kenin on Saturday at the US Cellular Center indoor arena in Asheville.

Keys struck back for the Americans 6-2 6-2 against Birrell to set up an intense deciding day of the first round world group Fed Cup tie on Sunday (Monday AEDT).

World number 13 Barty will face 17th ranked Keys and Birrell, 157th, will play 37th ranked Kenin in the remaining singles rubbers.

Barty and Daria Gavrilova will play American duo Nicole Melichar and Danielle Collins in the doubles.

The winner of the tie will move on to play Belarus or Germany in the Fed Cup semi-finals in April.