Italy Wins Record Third Straight Davis Cup Title
Flavio Cobolli secured the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup history to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
The young Italian star alongside Matteo Berrettini led Italy to Davis Cup glory as the hosts beat the Spanish team to capture a historic third successive title in front of an ecstatic local supporters
48 hours after he edged an epic 32-point tie-break, the Italian talent returned to starred as he fought back from behind in sets to defeat Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's determined comeback victory triumph secured a straight sets victory for his country in Bologna after his teammate 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 first nation to achieve three consecutive championships since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the championship match over five decades back
Home Crowd Inspires Italian Victory
Supported passionately by the overwhelming number of a packed 10,000-strong audience, the Italian star overcame a slow start to trigger moments of jubilation among the Italian players, staff and fans
Cobolli was mobbed by his teammates on the playing surface but paused for a moment to commend his opponent on his efforts before rejoining the festivities
Key Players Deliver in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the final despite being without star athletes, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the world's dominant men's players
But, with Italian second-ranked Lorenzo Musetti too missing, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their opportunities in the spotlight with three wins from all their matches each during the tournament
Thrilling Recovery Secures Win
The audience chanted Cobolli's name as he maintained his calm to serve out his comeback victory to love, having forced the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had realized a "goal" in delivering his nation to Sunday's showpiece on home soil
In contrast to the events of Friday night, when the athlete removed his shirt in celebration on "one of the best" moments of his career, the world number 22 paid the consequence for a slow start as he conceded a dominant first set
But Cobolli launched a essential, immediate comeback after going a behind at the beginning of the following set
The Italian's luck seemed to change after a nine-minute stop in the match when a member of the audience became unwell
When the match continued, and with Munar down break point, the Italian floated over a shot that hit a lucky net cord and brought the set to deuce
Although annoyingly denied multiple opportunities on his rival's serve, Cobolli seized command of a must-win breaker to push the final set - where he once again performed
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Run
The Italian star had earlier taken his team competition individual victory run to 11 matches with an superb display against the Spanish opponent
The former Wimbledon runner-up used his third break point for a 5-3 lead before confidently serving out the first set to zero
Having won the majority of points to secure the opening set, Berrettini appeared ready to strengthen his grip on the contest upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the following set
His opponent succeeded to survive each before putting together a series of strong serving performances - but Berrettini took his next opportunity and served out to love to complete his triumph