Italy Wins Historic Three-Peat Davis Cup Championship
Flavio Cobolli won one of the longest tie-break in Davis Cup records to beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot propelled Italy to team tennis victory as the home team defeated the Spanish team to claim a record-breaking third consecutive title in front of an overjoyed local supporters
Two days after he edged a marathon lengthy tie-break, Cobolli returned to excelled as he fought back from behind in sets to defeat his Spanish opponent in three sets
The 23-year-old's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success secured a straight sets triumph for his country in the Italian city after his teammate had prevailed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup title overall for Italy, who are the first nation to win three consecutive championships since defending champions stopped receiving direct entry to the final 53 years ago
Home Crowd Fuels Team Italy Triumph
Supported passionately by the overwhelming number of a packed 10,000-strong audience, the Italian star overcame a poor beginning to spark scenes of jubilation among the team athletes, coaches and fans
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on court but took a brief time to praise Munar on his performance before returning to the festivities
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Each Italy and the Spanish team reached the final despite being without star athletes, with the absence of top-ranked players denying spectators a seventh matchup of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with national second-ranked another key player too missing, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the limelight with perfect records from all their matches each during the tournament
Dramatic Comeback Seals Win
The audience shouted the player's name as he maintained his calm to close out his comeback triumph to zero, having forced the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a tense final set
That was quite an accomplishment, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in guiding Italy to Sunday's final on domestic ground
In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when Cobolli tore off his jersey in celebration on "one of the best" days of his life, the ranked player faced the price for a poor beginning as he lost a dominant first set
But the determined player initiated a essential, swift response after falling a behind at the start of the second
The Italian's fortunes seemed to change after a nine-minute pause in the match when a member of the crowd became unwell
When play continued, and with his opponent down break point, the Italian lobbed over a shot that hit a fortunate net cord and put the set to deuce
Even though frustratingly prevented four set points on his rival's serve, Cobolli wrested control of a decisive tie-break to push the final set - where he once again performed
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Run
Berrettini had earlier extended his team competition singles victory run to 11 matches with an superb performance against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the first set to zero
Having taken the majority of points to take the first set, the player looked set to tighten his grip on the contest upon creating opportunities in the opening game of the second
His opponent succeeded to survive each before putting together a series of solid service games - but the Italian took his next opportunity and closed to zero to finish his victory