The Italian team Wins Historic Third Consecutive Tennis Trophy Championship
The Italian player won the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup history to overcome Belgium's Zizou Bergs during the semi-finals
Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot led the Italian squad to team tennis success as the hosts beat the Spanish team to claim a historic third consecutive championship in front of an ecstatic local supporters
48 hours following he edged a marathon 32-point decider, the Italian talent returned to starred as he fought back from a set and a break down to defeat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph sealed a 2-0 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 overall team championship title in total for the Italian team, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive titles since title holders stopped receiving automatic qualification to the championship match 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Italian Victory
Backed enthusiastically by the vast majority of a packed capacity crowd, the Italian star conquered a poor beginning to trigger scenes of celebration among the Italian players, coaches and fans
Cobolli was mobbed by his teammates on court but paused for a brief time to commend his opponent on his performance before rejoining the festivities
Key Players Step Up in Absence
Each Italy and the Spanish team made the final despite missing star athletes, with the absence of top-ranked players denying fans a seventh meeting of 2025 between the top-ranked men's players
But, with national number two another key player too missing, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their opportunities in the limelight with three wins from all their matches apiece this week
Dramatic Comeback Secures Win
The crowd chanted the player's name as he kept his composure to close out his recovery triumph to love, having achieved the decisive break in the penultimate 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 Sunday's final on domestic ground
In opposition to the events of Friday night, when Cobolli tore off his jersey in jubilation on "among the greatest" days of his career, the world number 22 paid the consequence for a poor beginning as he conceded a dominant first set
But the determined player initiated a essential, immediate comeback after falling a behind at the start of the second
Cobolli's luck seemed to shift after a nine-minute pause in play when a spectator of the audience became unwell
When play continued, and with his opponent down a critical moment, the Italian floated over a shot that caught a fortunate net tape and brought the game back on level terms
Although annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's service game, Cobolli wrested control of a decisive breaker to push the final set - where he yet again delivered
The Veteran Continues Remarkable Winning Streak
Berrettini had earlier extended his team competition individual winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent display against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist converted his third break point for a advantage before assuredly closing the opener to zero
Having taken 11 of the last 13 points to secure the opening set, Berrettini looked set to strengthen his grip on the contest upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the following set
His opponent succeeded to survive both before putting together a sequence of solid serving performances - but the Italian took his following chance and served out to love to complete his victory