Italy Wins Record Three-Peat Davis Cup Title
Flavio Cobolli secured the sixth-longest deciding set in team tennis history to overcome his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot guided Italy to team tennis success as the hosts beat the Spanish team to claim a record-breaking third consecutive championship in front of an ecstatic local supporters
Two days after he narrowly won an epic 32-point tie-break, Cobolli returned to excelled as he recovered from a set and a break down to overcome his Spanish opponent in three sets
The young player's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success secured a 2-0 triumph for his country in Bologna after Berrettini had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against the Spanish player
It is a fourth Davis Cup victory in total for the Italian team, who are the initial country to achieve three consecutive championships since defending champions no longer received direct entry to the final 53 years ago
Local Supporters Inspires Team Italy Triumph
Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a sell-out capacity crowd, Cobolli overcame a poor beginning to trigger scenes of jubilation among the team athletes, staff and fans
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on the playing surface but took a brief time to commend his opponent on his performance before returning to the festivities
Star Performers Deliver in Missing Stars
Both the Italian squad and the Spanish team reached the championship match even with being without key players, with the non-participation of top-ranked players preventing spectators a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant men's players
But, with national second-ranked Lorenzo Musetti too absent, the Italian duo seized their moments in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece this week
Dramatic Comeback Secures Victory
The crowd shouted the player's moniker as he kept his calm to serve out his recovery victory to love, having achieved the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a tense deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had realized a "dream" in delivering Italy to Sunday's final on domestic ground
In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete tore off his shirt in celebration on "one of the best" days of his life, the ranked player faced the price for a slow start as he conceded a one-sided first set
But Cobolli initiated a necessary, swift response after going a behind at the beginning of the second
Cobolli's fortunes appeared to change after a nine-minute stop in the match when a member of the crowd became ill
When the match resumed, and with his opponent facing a critical moment, the player lobbed over a volley that caught a lucky net tape and brought the set to deuce
Even though annoyingly prevented four set points on his rival's serve, Cobolli seized control of a decisive tie-break to push the decider - where he once again performed
Berrettini Continues Impressive Run
Berrettini had previously taken his team competition singles victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an superb display against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist converted his third break point for a advantage before assuredly closing the first set to love
Having won the majority of points to secure the opening set, the player appeared ready to tighten his hold on the match upon forcing two break points in the opening game of the following set
His opponent succeeded to survive each before producing a sequence of strong serving performances - but Berrettini seized his following chance and served out to zero to finish his triumph