Italy Wins Historic Three-Peat Davis Cup Championship
Flavio Cobolli clinched one of the longest tie-break in team tennis history to beat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini propelled the Italian squad to team tennis glory as the home team beat the Spanish team to claim a historic third consecutive title in front of an ecstatic local supporters
48 hours after he edged an epic lengthy decider, Cobolli returned to shone as he recovered from behind in sets to beat Jaume Munar in three sets
The young player's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph clinched a 2-0 victory for his country in Bologna after his teammate had triumphed in straight sets against the Spanish player
It is a fourth overall team championship 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 championship match over five decades back
Local Supporters Inspires Team Italy Victory
Supported passionately by the overwhelming number of a packed capacity audience, the Italian star overcame a slow start to trigger moments of celebration among the team athletes, coaches and supporters
Cobolli was surrounded by his team-mates on court but took a moment to commend Munar on his performance before returning to the celebrations
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the final despite missing key players, with the non-participation of top-ranked players preventing fans a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant men's players
But, with Italian number two another key player also absent, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their opportunities in the spotlight with perfect records from three singles matches apiece this week
Thrilling Recovery Seals Victory
The crowd shouted the player's moniker as he maintained his calm to close out his recovery triumph to zero, having achieved the breakthrough in the 11th game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "goal" in delivering Italy to Sunday's final on domestic ground
In opposition to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete removed his shirt in celebration on "among the greatest" days of his life, the world number 22 faced the consequence for a poor beginning as he conceded a dominant opening set
But the determined player initiated a necessary, swift response after going a break down at the beginning of the following set
The Italian's fortunes seemed to change after a brief stop in play when a member of the crowd became ill
When the match resumed, and with Munar down a critical moment, the Italian floated over a shot that caught a fortunate net tape and put the set to deuce
Even though frustratingly denied multiple opportunities on his opponent's serve, the champion wrested command of a decisive breaker to force the final set - where he yet again performed
Berrettini Continues Impressive Run
Berrettini had earlier extended his Davis Cup individual victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent display against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist converted his third break point for a advantage before confidently closing the opener to zero
Having won the majority of points to secure the opening set, the player looked set to tighten his grip on the match upon forcing opportunities in the opening game of the following set
His opponent managed to save each before putting together a series of strong service games - but the Italian seized his next opportunity and closed to zero to complete his triumph