Italy Wins Record Three-Peat Davis Cup Title
The Italian player won the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup history to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli alongside his compatriot propelled the Italian squad to team tennis glory as the home team beat the Spanish team to capture a historic three-peat championship in front of an ecstatic local supporters
48 hours after he narrowly won a marathon lengthy decider, the Italian talent returned to shone as he fought back from behind in sets to defeat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The young player's tenacious comeback victory success secured a straight sets triumph for his country in Bologna after Berrettini had won in straight sets against the Spanish player
It is a fourth overall team championship victory overall for the Italian team, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive championships since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago
Home Crowd Inspires Italian Victory
Supported enthusiastically by the vast majority of a packed capacity crowd, the Italian star conquered a slow start to spark moments of jubilation among the Italian athletes, coaches and supporters
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on court but paused for a moment to commend Munar on his efforts before returning to the celebrations
Key Players Step Up in Absence
Both Italy and the Spanish team reached the championship match even with missing key players, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner denying spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with national number two Lorenzo Musetti also missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches each this week
Thrilling Comeback Seals Victory
The audience shouted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his composure to serve out his comeback victory to love, having achieved the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had realized a "goal" in delivering his nation to the final on domestic ground
In contrast to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete removed his shirt in jubilation on "among the greatest" moments of his career, the world number 22 faced the consequence for a slow start as he conceded a one-sided opening set
But Cobolli initiated a necessary, immediate comeback after going a break down at the beginning of the following set
Cobolli's luck seemed to change after a brief stop in the match when a spectator of the audience became ill
When play continued, and with his opponent facing a critical moment, the Italian floated over a shot that caught a lucky net cord and put the game to deuce
Although annoyingly denied four set points on his rival's serve, Cobolli wrested control of a must-win breaker to push the final set - where he yet again delivered
Berrettini Continues Impressive Run
Berrettini had previously extended his team competition singles winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent display against the Spanish opponent
The former Wimbledon runner-up used his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before confidently serving out the opener to zero
Having taken the majority of points to take the first set, the player appeared ready to tighten his hold on the contest upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the second
His opponent managed to survive each before putting together a sequence of solid serving performances - but the Italian seized his next opportunity and served out to love to finish his triumph