The Italian team Secures Record Third Consecutive Davis Cup Title
The Italian player secured the sixth-longest deciding set in team tennis records to beat his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
The young Italian star and his compatriot guided Italy to team tennis success as the hosts overcame Spain to claim a historic third consecutive title in front of an overjoyed local supporters
48 hours after he edged a marathon 32-point tie-break, Cobolli once again shone as he battled back from behind in sets to overcome his Spanish opponent in three sets
The 23-year-old's gritty comeback victory success sealed a 2-0 victory for his country in Bologna after his teammate had triumphed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall team championship title overall for the Italian team, who are the initial country to achieve three straight championships since defending champions no longer received automatic qualification to the championship match over five decades back
Home Crowd Inspires Team Italy Triumph
Backed passionately by the vast majority of a packed capacity crowd, Cobolli overcame a slow start to trigger moments of jubilation among the Italian players, staff and fans
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on the playing surface but took a moment to commend his opponent on his performance before returning to the celebrations
Key Players Step Up in Missing Stars
Each Italy and the Spanish team made the championship match despite being without star athletes, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing spectators a seventh meeting of 2025 between the top-ranked men's players
But, with Italian second-ranked Lorenzo Musetti also absent, the Italian duo seized their moments in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece this week
Dramatic Comeback Seals Win
The audience chanted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his calm to close out his comeback triumph to zero, having forced the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was quite an accomplishment, given he had stated he had realized a "dream" in delivering Italy to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground
In opposition to the events of the previous match, when the athlete removed his jersey in jubilation on "one of the best" moments of his life, the world number 22 faced the price for a slow start as he conceded a dominant first set
But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate response after going a behind at the start of the following set
The Italian's fortunes appeared to shift after a brief pause in the match when a spectator of the audience became ill
When play continued, and with Munar down a critical moment, the Italian lobbed over a volley that hit a fortunate net cord and brought the game back on level terms
Although annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's service game, the champion seized control of a must-win tie-break to push the decider - where he once again delivered
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Winning Streak
Berrettini had previously extended his Davis Cup individual winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a advantage before confidently serving out the first set to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the opening set, Berrettini looked set to tighten his grip on the contest upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to save each before producing a sequence of solid service games - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and served out to love to finish his triumph