The Italian team Secures Historic Third Straight Tennis Trophy Championship
Flavio Cobolli secured the sixth-longest deciding set in team tennis records to overcome his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
The young Italian star and his compatriot propelled Italy to Davis Cup success as the home team defeated the Spanish team to secure a record-breaking three-peat title in front of an overjoyed home crowd
Two days after he edged a marathon 32-point decider, the Italian talent once again shone as he recovered from a set and a break down to defeat his Spanish opponent in three sets
The young player's tenacious comeback victory success sealed a 2-0 win for his country in Bologna after his teammate had prevailed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup title overall for the Italian team, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive championships since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the championship match 53 years ago
Home Crowd Fuels Italian Triumph
Backed passionately by the vast majority of a packed 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli conquered a poor beginning to spark moments of jubilation among the team players, staff and fans
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but paused for a brief time to commend his opponent on his performance before returning to the festivities
Key Players Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the championship match despite being without key players, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner denying spectators a seventh meeting of 2025 between the top-ranked men's players
But, with national number two Lorenzo Musetti too absent, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the limelight with three wins from all their matches each this week
Thrilling Recovery Seals Win
The crowd chanted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his calm to close out his comeback triumph to love, having achieved the decisive break in the 11th game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had achieved a "goal" in delivering his nation to Sunday's final on home soil
In contrast to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete removed his shirt in jubilation on "among the greatest" moments of his life, the ranked player faced the consequence for a poor beginning as he lost a dominant opening set
But the determined player initiated a essential, immediate response after falling a break down at the start of the second
Cobolli's fortunes appeared to shift after a nine-minute stop in the match when a spectator of the crowd became unwell
When the match continued, and with Munar facing break point, the player lobbed over a volley that hit a fortunate net cord and brought the set to deuce
Even though frustratingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's service game, the champion wrested control of a decisive tie-break to force the final set - where he yet again delivered
The Veteran Continues Impressive Run
The Italian star had earlier extended his Davis Cup singles victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an superb display against Carreno Busta
The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the first set to zero
Having taken the majority of points to secure the first set, Berrettini appeared ready to strengthen his grip on the match upon creating two break points in the initial game of the following set
Carreno Busta managed to save both before producing a sequence of strong service games - but the Italian seized his next opportunity and closed to zero to complete his triumph