Italy Clinches Historic Third Consecutive Davis Cup Title
Flavio Cobolli clinched the sixth-longest tie-break in team tennis history to beat his Belgian opponent on Friday
Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini led Italy to Davis Cup victory as the hosts overcame Spain to capture a historic three-peat title in front of an jubilant home crowd
Two days after he edged a marathon lengthy tie-break, Cobolli once again starred as he fought back from a set and a break down to overcome his Spanish opponent in three sets
The 23-year-old's gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win secured a straight sets triumph for his country in Bologna after Berrettini had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth Davis Cup victory in total for the Italian team, who are the initial country to win three consecutive titles since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the championship match over five decades back
Home Crowd Inspires Team Italy Victory
Backed passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out capacity audience, Cobolli conquered a slow start to trigger scenes of celebration among the Italian athletes, staff and supporters
The champion was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but paused for a brief time to commend his opponent on his performance before rejoining the festivities
Key Players Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the championship match despite missing key players, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner denying fans a seventh matchup of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with Italian number two Lorenzo Musetti also absent, the Italian duo owned their moments in the spotlight with perfect records from all their matches each this week
Dramatic Recovery Seals Victory
The crowd chanted Cobolli's moniker as he maintained his calm to serve out his recovery triumph to love, having forced the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "goal" in guiding Italy to the showpiece 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 world number 22 paid the consequence for a poor beginning as he conceded a one-sided opening set
But the determined player initiated a necessary, swift response after going a break down at the beginning of the second
Cobolli's luck appeared to shift after a brief pause in the match when a spectator of the crowd became ill
When play resumed, and with Munar facing a critical moment, the Italian lobbed over a shot that caught a fortunate net tape and brought the set to deuce
Even though annoyingly denied multiple opportunities on his rival's service game, the champion wrested control of a decisive breaker to push the decider - where he yet again performed
Berrettini Continues Impressive Winning Streak
The Italian star had previously extended his team competition singles victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an superb display against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before confidently closing the opener to zero
Having taken the majority of points to secure the first set, the player looked set to tighten his grip on the contest upon creating two break points in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta managed to save both before putting together a series of solid service games - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and served out to zero to complete his triumph