Italy Wins Historic Third Straight Tennis Trophy Championship
The Italian player clinched one of the longest deciding set in Davis Cup history to overcome Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini led Italy to team tennis victory as the hosts beat Spain to claim a record-breaking third consecutive title in front of an jubilant home crowd
48 hours following he edged an epic 32-point tie-break, the Italian talent once again starred as he battled back from a set and a break down to overcome Jaume Munar in three sets
The young player's tenacious comeback victory win clinched a straight sets win for his country in the Italian city after Berrettini had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup title in total for Italy, who are the initial country to achieve three consecutive championships since title holders no longer received direct entry to the final 53 years ago
Home Crowd Inspires Italian Triumph
Supported enthusiastically by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli conquered a slow start to trigger scenes of celebration among the team players, staff and fans
The champion was mobbed by his teammates on the playing surface but paused for a moment to praise his opponent on his efforts before rejoining the celebrations
Star Performers Deliver in Missing Stars
Both Italy and Spain reached the final despite being without key players, with the absence of top-ranked players preventing fans a seventh meeting of 2025 between the world's dominant men's players
But, with Italian number two another key player also missing, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the spotlight with perfect records from all their matches apiece this week
Thrilling Comeback Seals Win
The crowd chanted Cobolli's name as he maintained his calm to close out his recovery triumph to love, having forced the decisive break in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was quite an accomplishment, given he had admitted he had achieved a "dream" in guiding his nation to the showpiece on domestic ground
In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when Cobolli removed his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" days of his life, the world number 22 paid the price for a slow start as he conceded a dominant first set
But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate response after going a behind at the beginning of the following set
The Italian's fortunes seemed to shift after a nine-minute stop in the match when a spectator of the audience became ill
When the match resumed, and with his opponent facing a critical moment, the player lobbed over a volley that hit a lucky net cord and put the set back on level terms
Although annoyingly denied multiple opportunities on his rival's serve, the champion seized control of a decisive breaker to push the final set - where he once again performed
The Veteran Continues Impressive Run
Berrettini had earlier taken his Davis Cup singles victory run to 11 matches with an superb display against the Spanish opponent
The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the opener to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the first set, the player appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the match upon creating two break points in the initial game of the second
His opponent managed to save both before producing a series of solid service games - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and served out to zero to finish his triumph