Italy Secures Historic Third Consecutive Tennis Trophy Title
The Italian player won the sixth-longest deciding set in Davis Cup history to overcome his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli alongside his compatriot guided Italy to team tennis glory as the hosts overcame the Spanish team to secure a record-breaking third successive championship in front of an ecstatic local supporters
48 hours following he narrowly won an epic 32-point tie-break, the Italian talent once again starred as he battled back from behind in sets to beat Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's determined comeback victory triumph clinched a straight sets win for his nation in the Italian city after his teammate had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth Davis Cup title overall for the Italian team, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the championship match 53 years ago
Home Crowd Inspires Team Italy Triumph
Backed enthusiastically by the vast majority of a sell-out capacity crowd, the Italian star conquered a poor beginning to spark scenes of jubilation among the Italian athletes, coaches and supporters
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but took a moment to commend his opponent on his performance before returning to the festivities
Key Players Deliver in Absence
Each the Italian squad and the Spanish team made the final despite missing star athletes, with the non-participation of top-ranked players preventing fans a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant men's players
But, with national number two another key player too missing, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their opportunities in the limelight with perfect records from all their matches each during the tournament
Thrilling Recovery Seals Victory
The audience shouted Cobolli's name 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 final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "goal" in delivering his nation to the final on home soil
In opposition to the events of Friday night, when Cobolli tore off his jersey in jubilation on "among the greatest" days of his life, the world number 22 faced the price for a poor beginning as he conceded a one-sided opening set
But Cobolli launched a necessary, swift comeback after falling a behind at the start of the second
The Italian's luck seemed to shift after a brief stop in play when a spectator of the audience became ill
When play continued, and with Munar down a critical moment, the Italian lobbed over a shot that hit a lucky net tape and put the game back on level terms
Although annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's service game, the champion wrested control of a decisive breaker to force the decider - where he once again performed
Berrettini Extends Impressive Winning Streak
The Italian star had earlier taken his Davis Cup individual winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an superb performance against Carreno Busta
The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly serving out the first set to love
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to take the opening set, the player looked set to tighten his grip on the match upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the following set
His opponent succeeded to survive both before putting together a series of solid service games - but the Italian took his following chance and closed to love to complete his triumph
