Italy Clinches Historic Third Straight Davis Cup Title
The Italian player secured the sixth-longest tie-break in team tennis history to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini guided the Italian squad to team tennis success as the home team beat Spain to claim a record-breaking three-peat title in front of an jubilant home crowd
48 hours after he narrowly won an epic lengthy tie-break, the Italian talent once again starred as he recovered from behind in sets to defeat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success clinched a straight sets victory for his nation in the Italian city after his teammate had triumphed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth team championship title overall for Italy, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive championships since defending champions no longer received direct entry to the final over five decades back
Home Crowd Fuels Italian Triumph
Backed enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a sell-out capacity audience, the Italian star overcame a poor beginning to spark scenes of jubilation among the team players, coaches and fans
The champion was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but took a moment to commend his opponent on his performance before rejoining the celebrations
Key Players Deliver in Missing Stars
Each the Italian squad and Spain made the final despite being without key players, with the absence of top-ranked players denying spectators a seventh matchup of 2025 between the world's dominant men's players
But, with national second-ranked Lorenzo Musetti also missing, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their moments in the spotlight with perfect records from all their matches apiece during the tournament
Thrilling Comeback Secures Win
The crowd shouted Cobolli's name as he kept his composure to close out his comeback victory to love, having achieved the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a nail-biting final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "goal" in delivering his nation to Sunday's showpiece on home soil
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete removed his jersey in celebration on "one of the best" moments of his life, the ranked player faced the price for a poor beginning as he lost a dominant opening set
But Cobolli initiated a necessary, swift response after going a break down at the start of the second
The Italian's luck appeared to change after a nine-minute pause in play when a spectator of the audience became ill
When the match continued, and with Munar down a critical moment, the Italian lobbed over a volley that hit a fortunate net tape and brought the set to deuce
Even though frustratingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's service game, Cobolli wrested control of a must-win tie-break to force the final set - where he once again performed
Berrettini Continues Impressive Winning Streak
Berrettini had earlier taken his Davis Cup individual winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an superb performance against the Spanish opponent
The former Wimbledon runner-up used his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before confidently closing the first set to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the opening set, Berrettini appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the match upon creating two break points in the opening game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to survive both before putting together a sequence of solid service games - but the Italian seized his following chance and closed to zero to finish his victory