Italy Clinches Historic Three-Peat Tennis Trophy Championship
The Italian player secured the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup history to defeat his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini guided Italy to Davis Cup glory as the home team defeated the Spanish team to claim a record-breaking three-peat championship in front of an ecstatic local supporters
Two days after he narrowly won a marathon 32-point tie-break, Cobolli once again starred as he battled back from a set and a break down to overcome his Spanish opponent in three sets
The young player's gritty comeback victory success clinched a 2-0 win for his country in Bologna after his teammate had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth team championship victory overall for Italy, who are the initial country to achieve three straight titles since title holders no longer received direct entry to the final over five decades back
Local Supporters Fuels Team Italy Triumph
Backed passionately by the overwhelming number of a packed capacity audience, Cobolli conquered a slow start to trigger scenes of celebration among the Italian athletes, coaches and fans
Cobolli was surrounded by his team-mates on court but took a brief time to commend Munar on his efforts before returning to the celebrations
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the final even with being without star athletes, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner denying spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked men's players
But, with national number two another key player too absent, the Italian duo seized their opportunities in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece during the tournament
Thrilling Recovery Secures Win
The crowd shouted the player's name as he maintained his composure to serve out his comeback triumph to zero, having forced the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "goal" in guiding Italy to the final on domestic ground
In opposition to the events of the previous match, when the athlete removed his shirt in celebration on "one of the best" moments of his career, the world number 22 paid the price for a slow start as he lost a one-sided first set
But the determined player launched a necessary, immediate response after going a break down at the start of the following set
Cobolli's fortunes seemed to change after a nine-minute stop in the match when a spectator of the audience became unwell
When the match resumed, and with his opponent facing a critical moment, the player floated over a volley that caught a lucky net cord and put the game back on level terms
Even though annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's serve, Cobolli seized control of a must-win breaker to push the decider - where he once again delivered
Berrettini Continues Remarkable Run
Berrettini had previously extended his team competition singles victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta
The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his third break point for a advantage before confidently closing the first set to zero
Having taken the majority of points to take the first set, Berrettini looked set to strengthen his hold on the match upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to survive both before putting together a series of strong serving performances - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and closed to love to finish his victory