Italy Wins Record Third Consecutive Tennis Trophy Championship
The Italian player secured one of the longest deciding set in team tennis records to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini led Italy to Davis Cup glory as the home team beat the Spanish team to secure a record-breaking third successive championship in front of an overjoyed home crowd
Two days following he edged a marathon lengthy tie-break, the Italian talent returned to starred as he recovered from a set and a break down to defeat his Spanish opponent in three sets
The 23-year-old's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win clinched a straight sets victory for his nation in Bologna after Berrettini had prevailed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup victory in total for the Italian team, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since title holders no longer received direct entry to the championship match over five decades back
Home Crowd Inspires Team Italy Triumph
Supported enthusiastically by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli conquered a poor beginning to spark moments of jubilation among the team athletes, staff and fans
Cobolli was surrounded by his team-mates on the playing surface but took a brief time to praise Munar on his performance before rejoining the festivities
Key Players Deliver in Absence
Each Italy and Spain made the championship match despite being without key players, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing spectators a seventh meeting of 2025 between the top-ranked men's players
But, with Italian number two another key player too missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the spotlight with perfect records from three singles matches apiece during the tournament
Thrilling Recovery Secures Victory
The audience chanted the player's moniker as he maintained his composure to close out his comeback victory to love, having achieved the breakthrough in the 11th game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had achieved a "dream" in guiding Italy to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground
In opposition to the events of the previous match, when Cobolli tore off his jersey in jubilation on "among the greatest" moments of his life, the world number 22 faced the consequence for a slow start as he conceded a dominant opening set
But the determined player launched a necessary, swift response after going a break down at the beginning of the following set
The Italian's fortunes appeared to shift after a nine-minute pause in the match when a spectator of the crowd became ill
When the match resumed, and with Munar down a critical moment, the player lobbed over a volley that hit a fortunate net cord and brought the game to deuce
Even though annoyingly prevented four set points on his opponent's serve, the champion wrested control of a decisive tie-break to force the decider - where he once again performed
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Run
Berrettini had earlier extended his Davis Cup individual victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an superb performance against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist converted his third break point for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the first set to zero
Having taken the majority of points to secure the opening set, the player looked set to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating two break points in the opening game of the following set
His opponent managed to survive both before producing a series of solid serving performances - but Berrettini took his following chance and closed to love to finish his triumph