Italy Clinches Record Third Straight Tennis Trophy Title
The Italian player secured one of the longest deciding set in Davis Cup history to beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli alongside his compatriot led the Italian squad to Davis Cup victory as the hosts overcame Spain to claim a record-breaking third consecutive championship in front of an overjoyed home crowd
Two days following he narrowly won a marathon lengthy decider, Cobolli returned to shone as he recovered from a set and a break down to defeat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's determined comeback victory success sealed a 2-0 win for his nation in Bologna after Berrettini had won 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth Davis Cup victory in total for the Italian team, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since title holders stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago
Home Crowd Inspires Italian Triumph
Supported passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli overcame a slow start to trigger moments of jubilation among the Italian players, coaches and supporters
The champion was surrounded by his team-mates on the playing surface but paused for a brief time to praise Munar on his performance before returning to the celebrations
Star Performers Deliver in Absence
Both the Italian squad and the Spanish team made the championship match despite being without key players, with the non-participation of top-ranked players preventing spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with Italian number two another key player also missing, the Italian duo seized their opportunities in the spotlight with perfect records from three singles matches each this week
Dramatic Recovery Secures Victory
The audience shouted the player's name as he maintained his composure to close out his recovery triumph to zero, having achieved the decisive break in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in delivering Italy to the showpiece on home soil
In contrast to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete tore off his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" moments of his life, the ranked player faced the consequence for a slow start as he conceded a dominant first set
But the determined player initiated a essential, immediate comeback after going a break down at the beginning of the second
Cobolli's luck appeared to shift after a nine-minute stop in the match when a member of the crowd became unwell
When play continued, and with his opponent facing break point, the player lobbed over a shot that caught a fortunate net tape and brought the set to deuce
Although frustratingly denied four set points on his rival's service game, Cobolli seized control of a must-win breaker to force the decider - where he once again performed
Berrettini Extends Impressive Run
The Italian star had previously extended his Davis Cup singles winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent performance against the Spanish opponent
The former Wimbledon runner-up used his third break point for a advantage before assuredly closing the first set to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the opening set, the player appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating opportunities in the opening game of the following set
His opponent managed to survive each before putting together a sequence of strong service games - but Berrettini took his next opportunity and closed to love to complete his triumph