Italy Clinches Historic Third Consecutive Davis Cup Title
Flavio Cobolli won one of the longest deciding set in team tennis records to beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini propelled Italy to team tennis glory as the hosts overcame the Spanish team to claim a record-breaking three-peat title in front of an overjoyed local supporters
48 hours following he narrowly won an epic 32-point decider, the Italian talent returned to excelled as he battled back from behind in sets to beat Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The young player's gritty comeback victory success clinched a 2-0 victory for his country in the Italian city after Berrettini had won in straight sets against the Spanish player
It is a fourth overall team championship victory 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 final over five decades back
Home Crowd Inspires Italian Triumph
Backed passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong crowd, Cobolli conquered a poor beginning to trigger scenes of jubilation among the team athletes, staff and fans
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but took a moment to commend Munar on his efforts before rejoining the festivities
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Each the Italian squad and the Spanish team reached the championship match despite being without star athletes, with the non-participation of top-ranked players denying fans a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant men's players
But, with Italian number two Lorenzo Musetti also missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the spotlight with three wins from all their matches each this week
Dramatic Recovery Secures Win
The audience chanted Cobolli's moniker as he maintained his calm to close out his recovery triumph to love, having forced the breakthrough in the 11th game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had realized a "goal" in delivering his nation to the showpiece on home soil
In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete removed his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" days of his career, the ranked player faced the price for a slow start as he lost a dominant first set
But the determined player launched a essential, immediate comeback after falling a break down at the start of the second
Cobolli's luck appeared to shift after a nine-minute pause in the match when a spectator of the audience became unwell
When the match continued, and with his opponent facing a critical moment, the Italian floated over a shot that hit a fortunate net tape and brought the set to deuce
Even though frustratingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's service game, the champion wrested command of a decisive tie-break to push the final set - where he once again performed
Berrettini Extends Impressive Winning Streak
Berrettini had previously extended his team competition individual winning streak to 11 matches with an superb performance against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a advantage before assuredly serving out the first set to love
Having won the majority of points to secure the opening set, the player looked set to strengthen his hold on the match upon forcing two break points in the opening game of the second
His opponent succeeded to save each before putting together a series of strong serving performances - but the Italian took his following chance and closed to zero to complete his victory