Italy Secures Historic Three-Peat Davis Cup Title
Flavio Cobolli secured the sixth-longest deciding set in Davis Cup records to defeat his Belgian opponent on Friday
The young Italian star alongside Matteo Berrettini led Italy to team tennis success as the hosts defeated the Spanish team to secure a record-breaking third successive title in front of an overjoyed local supporters
48 hours after he narrowly won an epic lengthy decider, the Italian talent returned to shone as he recovered from behind in sets to beat Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph sealed a straight sets win for his nation in Bologna after his teammate had triumphed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup victory overall for the Italian team, who are the first nation to win three straight championships since defending champions no longer received automatic qualification to the championship match 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Team Italy Victory
Backed passionately by the vast majority of a packed capacity crowd, Cobolli conquered a poor beginning to spark scenes of celebration among the Italian players, staff and fans
The champion was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but paused for a moment to commend his opponent on his performance before rejoining the festivities
Star Performers Deliver in Missing Stars
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the championship match even with missing star athletes, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with national number two Lorenzo Musetti also missing, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their opportunities in the limelight with three wins from three singles matches apiece during the tournament
Thrilling Comeback Seals Victory
The crowd shouted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his calm to close out his recovery triumph to love, having achieved the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a tense final set
That was quite an accomplishment, given he had stated he had achieved a "goal" in guiding his nation to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when Cobolli removed his jersey in celebration on "among the greatest" moments of his life, the ranked player paid the price for a slow start as he lost a dominant opening set
But the determined player launched a essential, swift response after going a break down at the start of the second
The Italian's luck appeared to change after a brief pause in the match when a spectator of the crowd became ill
When play continued, and with his opponent down break point, the Italian lobbed over a shot that caught a fortunate net tape and brought the game to deuce
Even though annoyingly denied four set points on his opponent's serve, Cobolli wrested control of a decisive breaker to force the final set - where he once again performed
Berrettini Continues Impressive Winning Streak
The Italian star had earlier extended his team competition individual winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent performance against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist converted his third break point for a 5-3 lead before confidently closing the first set to zero
Having won the majority of points to take the first set, the player appeared ready to tighten his grip on the match upon forcing opportunities in the opening game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to survive each before putting together a sequence of solid service games - but the Italian seized his next opportunity and closed to love to complete his triumph