🔗 Share this article

Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini propelled Italy to Davis Cup success as the home team beat Spain to secure a record-breaking third consecutive championship in front of an jubilant home crowd

Two days following he edged an epic lengthy decider, Cobolli once again shone as he recovered from behind in sets to defeat Jaume Munar in three sets

The 23-year-old's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph sealed a 2-0 victory for his country in the Italian city after his teammate had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta

It is a fourth overall team championship victory overall for Italy, who are the first nation to win three straight championships since defending champions stopped receiving direct entry to the final 53 years ago

Home Crowd Fuels Team Italy Triumph

Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a packed 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli overcame a slow start to spark moments of jubilation among the team athletes, coaches and fans

Cobolli was mobbed by his team-mates on court but paused for a moment to commend Munar on his efforts before returning to the celebrations

Key Players Deliver in Absence

Both the Italian squad and the Spanish team reached the final despite being without key players, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner denying fans a seventh meeting of the season between the world's dominant tennis stars

But, with national second-ranked Lorenzo Musetti also missing, the Italian duo seized their opportunities in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches each during the tournament

Dramatic Recovery Secures Victory

The crowd shouted the player's moniker as he kept his calm to serve out his comeback triumph to zero, having achieved the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set

That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had realized a "goal" in guiding Italy to the final on home soil

In opposition to the events of the previous match, when the athlete tore off his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" days of his career, the world number 22 paid the consequence for a poor beginning as he conceded a dominant opening set

But the determined player initiated a essential, swift comeback after falling a break down at the start of the following set

The Italian's fortunes appeared to shift after a brief stop in the match when a spectator of the crowd became unwell

When play resumed, and with his opponent down break point, the player lobbed over a volley that caught a lucky net cord and brought the game to deuce

Even though annoyingly denied four set points on his opponent's service game, Cobolli seized control of a must-win breaker to push the final set - where he once again performed

Berrettini Extends Impressive Winning Streak

The Italian star had previously extended his Davis Cup singles winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta

The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before confidently serving out the opener to zero

Having taken 11 of the last 13 points to secure the first set, Berrettini appeared ready to tighten his grip on the match upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the second

Carreno Busta managed to survive each before putting together a sequence of strong serving performances - but the Italian seized his following chance and closed to zero to complete his victory