The Italian team Clinches Record Third Straight Tennis Trophy Championship
The Italian player secured the sixth-longest deciding set in Davis Cup history to beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini guided the Italian squad to Davis Cup glory as the home team beat Spain to capture a historic third successive championship in front of an overjoyed home crowd
48 hours after he narrowly won a marathon lengthy decider, the Italian talent once again shone as he fought back from a set and a break down to defeat Jaume Munar in three sets
The 23-year-old's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph secured a straight sets victory for his country in Bologna after his teammate had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall team championship title overall for the Italian team, who are the initial country to win three straight titles since title holders no longer received automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago
Home Crowd Inspires Team Italy Victory
Supported enthusiastically by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong crowd, Cobolli overcame a slow start to spark moments of celebration among the Italian players, staff and supporters
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but took a brief time to praise Munar on his performance before rejoining the celebrations
Key Players Step Up in Missing Stars
Each Italy and the Spanish team reached the final even with missing star athletes, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh meeting of the season 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 during the tournament
Thrilling Recovery Seals Victory
The crowd chanted Cobolli's moniker as he maintained his composure to serve out his recovery triumph to love, having forced the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had achieved a "dream" in guiding Italy to the showpiece on home soil
In opposition to the events of the previous match, when Cobolli removed his jersey in celebration on "one of the best" days of his career, the world number 22 paid the consequence for a poor beginning as he conceded a one-sided first set
But the determined player initiated a essential, swift comeback after going a break down at the start of the second
The Italian's luck appeared to shift after a brief stop in play when a member of the audience became ill
When play resumed, and with Munar down break point, the Italian floated over a volley that caught a fortunate net tape and put the set to deuce
Even though annoyingly denied four set points on his rival's service game, the champion wrested control of a must-win tie-break to push the decider - where he once again performed
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Winning Streak
Berrettini had earlier taken his team competition individual winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an superb performance against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist converted his decisive opportunity for a advantage before assuredly serving out the first set to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the opening set, the player appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta managed to survive both before putting together a sequence of strong service games - but Berrettini took his next opportunity and closed to zero to finish his triumph