Italy Secures Record Third Consecutive Tennis Trophy Title
The Italian player secured the sixth-longest tie-break in team tennis history to overcome Belgium's Zizou Bergs during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli alongside his compatriot led Italy to Davis Cup victory as the hosts beat Spain to claim a record-breaking third consecutive title in front of an ecstatic home crowd
48 hours following he narrowly won an epic 32-point tie-break, the Italian talent once again excelled as he fought back from behind in sets to defeat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win clinched a straight sets victory for his nation in the Italian city after his teammate had won in straight sets against the Spanish player
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup title in total for Italy, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive championships since title holders no longer received direct entry to the final 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Italian Victory
Supported passionately by the vast majority of a packed 10,000-strong audience, the Italian star overcame a slow start to spark scenes of celebration among the team athletes, coaches and supporters
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but took a brief time to commend Munar on his performance before rejoining the celebrations
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain reached the final despite being without key players, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh meeting of 2025 between the top-ranked men's players
But, with national number two another key player too missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece during the tournament
Dramatic Comeback Seals Victory
The audience chanted Cobolli's moniker as he maintained his composure to close out his comeback triumph to love, having achieved the decisive break in the 11th game of a tense deciding set
That was quite an accomplishment, given he had admitted he had achieved a "dream" in delivering his nation to Sunday's showpiece on home soil
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete tore off his shirt in jubilation on "among the greatest" days of his career, the world number 22 faced the consequence for a poor beginning as he lost a dominant first set
But the determined player launched a necessary, immediate response after going a break down at the start of the following set
The Italian's luck appeared to change after a brief pause in the match when a spectator of the crowd became unwell
When the match resumed, and with his opponent down a critical moment, the Italian floated over a volley that hit a lucky net tape and put the game to deuce
Although annoyingly prevented four set points on his opponent's serve, the champion wrested control of a must-win breaker to push the final set - where he once again performed
The Veteran Continues Remarkable Winning Streak
Berrettini had earlier extended his Davis Cup singles winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent 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 love
Having taken the majority of points to take the opening set, the player looked set to strengthen his grip on the contest upon forcing two break points in the opening game of the second
His opponent succeeded to survive both before producing a sequence of solid serving performances - but the Italian seized his following chance and served out to love to finish his victory