Italy Clinches Historic Third Straight Tennis Trophy Championship
Flavio Cobolli clinched the sixth-longest deciding set in Davis Cup records to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot guided Italy to team tennis victory as the hosts defeated Spain to secure a historic third consecutive championship in front of an ecstatic local supporters
Two days after he narrowly won a marathon lengthy decider, Cobolli once again excelled as he battled back from behind in sets to beat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The young player's gritty comeback victory win sealed a straight sets victory for his country in Bologna after Berrettini had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup victory overall for the Italian team, who are the initial country to win three straight championships since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final over five decades back
Home Crowd Inspires Italian Victory
Supported passionately by the vast majority of a packed capacity audience, Cobolli overcame a slow start to trigger scenes of celebration among the Italian athletes, staff and fans
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on court but paused for a moment to commend his opponent on his performance before returning to the festivities
Key Players Deliver in Missing Stars
Both Italy and the Spanish team reached the final even with being without star athletes, with the non-participation of top-ranked players denying fans a seventh matchup of 2025 between the world's dominant tennis stars
But, with Italian second-ranked another key player too absent, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the limelight with perfect records from three singles matches apiece during the tournament
Thrilling Comeback Secures Victory
The crowd chanted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his calm to serve out his recovery victory to love, having forced the decisive break in the penultimate game of a tense deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in delivering Italy to the showpiece on domestic ground
In contrast to the events of the previous match, when Cobolli tore off his jersey in celebration on "among the greatest" days of his career, the ranked player faced the price for a slow start as he lost a one-sided opening set
But Cobolli initiated a necessary, swift comeback after going a behind at the start of the following set
Cobolli's fortunes seemed to change after a nine-minute pause in the match when a member of the crowd became ill
When play continued, and with Munar facing break point, the Italian floated over a volley that caught a lucky net cord and put the game back on level terms
Even though annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's serve, the champion seized control of a decisive tie-break to force the final set - where he once again delivered
Berrettini Continues Impressive Winning Streak
The Italian star had previously taken his Davis Cup individual winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent display against Carreno Busta
The former Wimbledon runner-up used his third break point for a advantage before assuredly serving out the first set to zero
Having taken the majority of points to take the first set, Berrettini appeared ready to tighten his hold on the match upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to save both before producing a series of strong serving performances - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and closed to zero to finish his victory