Italy Wins Record Three-Peat Tennis Trophy Championship
The Italian player won the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup records to overcome Belgium's Zizou Bergs during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot guided Italy to team tennis victory as the hosts defeated Spain to secure a record-breaking three-peat title in front of an overjoyed local supporters
48 hours following he narrowly won a marathon 32-point decider, Cobolli once again starred as he recovered from a set and a break down to beat his Spanish opponent in three sets
The young player's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success clinched a 2-0 win for his nation in Bologna after Berrettini had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth Davis Cup title in total for the Italian team, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive titles since defending champions no longer received direct entry to the final 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Italian Triumph
Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli overcame a poor beginning to trigger moments of jubilation among the team athletes, staff and fans
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but took a brief time to commend his opponent on his efforts before returning to the festivities
Key Players Deliver in Missing Stars
Each the Italian squad and the Spanish team made the final even with being without key players, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner denying fans a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked men's players
But, with national second-ranked another key player too absent, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the spotlight with perfect records from all their matches apiece during the tournament
Dramatic Comeback Seals Win
The crowd shouted the player's name as he kept his calm to serve out his comeback triumph to love, having forced the decisive break in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in delivering his nation to the showpiece on domestic ground
In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when Cobolli removed his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" days of his career, the ranked player faced the consequence for a poor beginning as he conceded a dominant first set
But the determined player initiated a necessary, swift comeback after going a behind at the beginning of the following set
The Italian's luck appeared to change after a nine-minute stop in the match when a member of the crowd became unwell
When play resumed, and with Munar down a critical moment, the player floated over a shot that hit a lucky net tape and brought the game to deuce
Although annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's serve, Cobolli seized command of a decisive tie-break to force the final set - where he once again delivered
The Veteran Continues Remarkable Winning Streak
The Italian star had previously extended his Davis Cup individual winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist converted his decisive opportunity for a advantage before confidently closing the first set to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to take the first set, the player appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to survive each before producing a sequence of solid serving performances - but the Italian seized his following chance and served out to zero to complete his victory