Italy and France became the first nations to reach the 2016 Davis Cup quarter-finals, while Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic experienced contrasting fortunes for Great Britain and Serbia in Saturday's doubles matches.
Switzerland, devoid of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, had Marco Chiudinelli and Henri Laaksonen as their doubles pairing and they proved no match for Italy's Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi, who wrapped up a 3-0 victory on the indoor clay in Pesaro.
They needed just one hour and 45 minutes to wrap up a 6-3 6-1 6-3 win and make it six straight victories in home ties, while Switzerland have now gone out in the first round in each of the last two years after winning the event in 2014.
France were made to work hard but the duo of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet defeated Canada's Vasek Pospisil and Philip Bester 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 7-6 (7-4) for a 3-0 win and a place in the last eight.
The Murray brothers, Andy and Jamie, are now 6-0 in Davis Cup doubles following a comfortable 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory for holders Great Britain over Japan duo Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama in Birmingham.
The Scots had 12 aces throughout and did not face a single break point en route to putting Britain 2-1 up and on the brink of a 150th Davis Cup win.
World number one Djokovic was in action for Serbia, but he and former doubles number one Nenad Zimonjic hit 56 unforced errors in a 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 loss to Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov in Belgrade.
It means Serbia trail 2-1 ahead of Sunday's singles' rubbers, with Djokovic attempting to redeem himself against Mikhail Kukushkin.
Lleyton Hewitt came out of retirement six weeks after saying goodbye to the sport at the Australian Open, but his cameo alongside debutant John Peers ended in a thrilling five-set defeat to doubles legends Bob and Mike Bryan as United States took a 2-1 lead over Australia.
Czech Republic and Croatia lead 2-1 against Germany and last-season's finalists Belgium after winning their respective doubles, while Poland kept their hopes of an escape alive against Argentina with a win in Saturday's doubles rubber. They now trail 2-1.
