The Italian team Wins Historic Three-Peat Tennis Trophy Championship
Flavio Cobolli clinched one of the longest deciding set in team tennis history to defeat his Belgian opponent on Friday
Flavio Cobolli alongside his compatriot led the Italian squad to Davis Cup glory as the hosts defeated Spain to secure a record-breaking third successive championship in front of an overjoyed local supporters
Two days following he edged an epic lengthy tie-break, the Italian talent once again excelled as he fought back from behind in sets to overcome Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win clinched a 2-0 victory for his country in the Italian city after Berrettini had won in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth Davis Cup victory overall for Italy, who are the first nation to win three straight championships since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Italian Victory
Supported passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out capacity crowd, the Italian star conquered a poor beginning to trigger moments of celebration among the Italian players, staff and supporters
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on the playing surface but took a brief time to praise his opponent on his efforts before rejoining the festivities
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Each Italy and the Spanish team reached the championship match even with missing key players, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh matchup of 2025 between the world's dominant men's players
But, with national second-ranked another key player also missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece during the tournament
Dramatic Recovery Secures Victory
The crowd shouted the player's moniker as he maintained his calm to close out his comeback victory to love, having achieved the decisive break in the penultimate game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in delivering his nation to Sunday's final on home soil
In contrast to the scenes of Friday night, when Cobolli removed his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" moments of his career, the ranked player paid the price for a poor beginning as he lost a one-sided first set
But the determined player initiated a necessary, swift comeback after falling a behind at the start of the following set
The Italian's luck seemed to shift after a nine-minute pause in play when a spectator of the crowd became unwell
When the match continued, and with Munar facing break point, the Italian lobbed over a shot that caught a lucky net tape and brought the set back on level terms
Even though annoyingly denied multiple opportunities on his rival's serve, the champion seized command of a must-win tie-break to push the decider - where he yet again performed
Berrettini Extends Impressive Winning Streak
The Italian star had earlier extended his team competition singles victory run to 11 matches with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta
The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the first set to love
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the first set, the player appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta managed to save each before putting together a sequence of solid serving performances - but Berrettini took his following chance and served out to love to complete his victory