Italy Secures Historic Third Straight Tennis Trophy Championship
Flavio Cobolli won the sixth-longest tie-break in team tennis records to defeat his Belgian opponent on Friday
Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot led the Italian squad to Davis Cup victory as the home team defeated the Spanish team to secure a record-breaking third consecutive title in front of an overjoyed local supporters
48 hours following he edged a marathon 32-point tie-break, Cobolli once again excelled as he battled back from behind in sets to defeat Jaume Munar in three sets
The young player's gritty comeback victory win secured a straight sets triumph for his country in Bologna after his teammate had won in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth team championship title in total for Italy, who are the initial country to achieve three consecutive titles since title holders stopped receiving automatic qualification to the championship match 53 years ago
Home Crowd Inspires Italian Victory
Backed enthusiastically by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli overcame a poor beginning to trigger scenes of jubilation among the team players, staff and supporters
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on court but paused for a moment to praise his opponent on his efforts before rejoining the festivities
Key Players Step Up in Absence
Each the Italian squad and the Spanish team made the final despite missing star athletes, with the non-participation of top-ranked players preventing fans a seventh meeting of 2025 between the world's dominant tennis stars
But, with Italian second-ranked Lorenzo Musetti too missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the limelight with three wins from three singles matches each this week
Dramatic Recovery Secures Win
The audience shouted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his composure to close out his recovery triumph to zero, having forced the decisive break in the 11th game of a tense deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in delivering his nation to Sunday's showpiece on home soil
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when Cobolli removed his shirt in jubilation on "among the greatest" days of his life, the ranked player paid the price for a poor beginning as he conceded a one-sided opening set
But the determined player launched a essential, immediate comeback after falling a behind at the beginning of the second
The Italian's fortunes seemed to change after a brief pause in the match when a spectator of the audience became ill
When the match resumed, and with his opponent facing a critical moment, the Italian floated over a volley that hit a lucky net tape and brought the set to deuce
Although frustratingly prevented four set points on his opponent's serve, the champion wrested control of a must-win breaker to push the decider - where he once again performed
The Veteran Continues Remarkable Winning Streak
The Italian star had earlier extended his team competition individual winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta
The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his third break point for a advantage before assuredly serving out the first set to love
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the first set, Berrettini looked set to tighten his hold on the contest upon creating two break points in the opening game of the following set
His opponent succeeded to survive each before producing a series of strong serving performances - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and closed to love to complete his triumph