Italy Wins Historic Three-Peat Tennis Trophy Title
Flavio Cobolli secured one of the longest deciding set in Davis Cup history to defeat his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
The young Italian star and Matteo Berrettini propelled Italy to team tennis victory as the hosts overcame Spain to secure a historic third successive title in front of an jubilant local supporters
48 hours after he edged an epic lengthy tie-break, Cobolli returned to shone as he recovered from behind in sets to beat his Spanish opponent in three sets
The 23-year-old's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success clinched a 2-0 win for his nation in the Italian city after Berrettini had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall team championship title in total for the Italian team, who are the first nation to win three straight championships since title holders no longer received automatic qualification to the championship match over five decades back
Home Crowd Fuels Italian Triumph
Backed enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a packed capacity audience, the Italian star overcame a poor beginning to spark scenes of jubilation among the team athletes, staff and fans
The champion was surrounded by his teammates on court but paused for a brief time to praise Munar on his performance before returning to the celebrations
Key Players Step Up in Missing Stars
Each the Italian squad and Spain reached the championship match despite missing key players, with the absence of top-ranked players denying fans a seventh matchup of 2025 between the world's dominant men's players
But, with Italian second-ranked Lorenzo Musetti too absent, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the limelight with perfect records from three singles matches each during the tournament
Thrilling Comeback Seals Win
The crowd shouted the player's moniker as he kept his composure to serve out his comeback triumph to zero, having forced the breakthrough in the 11th game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in delivering Italy to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground
In contrast to the events of the previous match, when Cobolli removed his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" moments of his career, the ranked player faced the price for a poor beginning as he conceded a one-sided opening set
But the determined player initiated a essential, swift comeback after falling a behind at the beginning of the following set
Cobolli's luck seemed to change after a nine-minute stop in the match when a member of the crowd became ill
When the match continued, and with his opponent down a critical moment, the player lobbed over a volley that hit a fortunate net tape and put the set back on level terms
Although frustratingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's service game, Cobolli seized control of a decisive breaker to force the final set - where he once again performed
Berrettini Extends Impressive Winning Streak
Berrettini had earlier extended his team competition individual victory run to 11 matches with an excellent performance against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist converted his decisive opportunity for a advantage before confidently serving out the opener to love
Having won the majority of points to take the opening set, the player looked set to strengthen his grip on the match upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the following set
His opponent managed to survive each before putting together a series of strong serving performances - but the Italian seized his following chance and served out to zero to complete his victory
