Italy Wins Record Three-Peat Davis Cup Championship
Flavio Cobolli secured the sixth-longest tie-break in team tennis history to defeat his Belgian opponent on Friday
Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini led the Italian squad to Davis Cup success as the home team defeated Spain to secure a historic third successive title in front of an jubilant local supporters
48 hours after he edged a marathon lengthy tie-break, Cobolli returned to starred as he battled back from a set and a break down to defeat his Spanish opponent in three sets
The young player's gritty comeback victory win clinched a straight sets triumph for his nation in Bologna after Berrettini had won 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 consecutive championships since title holders no longer received direct entry to the final 53 years ago
Local Supporters Inspires Italian Triumph
Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a sell-out 10,000-strong crowd, Cobolli overcame a poor beginning to trigger moments of celebration among the team athletes, staff and fans
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on court but paused for a brief time to commend Munar on his performance before rejoining the festivities
Star Performers Step Up in Missing Stars
Both Italy and Spain made the championship match despite missing key players, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant men's players
But, with national number two another key player also missing, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their moments in the spotlight with perfect records from all their matches apiece during the tournament
Dramatic Recovery Secures Victory
The audience shouted the player's moniker as he kept his composure to close out his comeback triumph to zero, having achieved the breakthrough in the 11th game of a tense deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had realized a "goal" in delivering Italy to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground
In contrast to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete removed his jersey in celebration 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 going a behind at the start of the following set
The Italian's luck seemed to shift after a nine-minute pause in play when a member of the audience became unwell
When the match resumed, and with Munar down break point, the Italian floated over a volley that caught a fortunate net cord and put the game to deuce
Even though annoyingly denied four set points on his opponent's serve, Cobolli seized command of a decisive tie-break to push the decider - where he yet again delivered
The Veteran Continues Remarkable Run
The Italian star had previously taken his Davis Cup individual victory run to 11 matches with an superb display against Carreno Busta
The former Wimbledon runner-up used his third break point for a advantage before confidently closing the opener to zero
Having taken the majority of points to secure 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 managed to survive each before putting together a series of solid serving performances - but Berrettini took his next opportunity and closed to love to complete his victory