Italy Secures Historic Third Straight Davis Cup Title
The Italian player won one of the longest deciding set in Davis Cup records to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot guided Italy to Davis Cup victory as the home team beat Spain to secure a historic third consecutive title in front of an ecstatic local supporters
Two days after he edged an epic lengthy tie-break, Cobolli returned to starred as he battled back from a set and a break down to beat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success clinched a straight sets triumph for his nation in Bologna after his teammate had triumphed in straight sets against the Spanish player
It is a fourth overall team championship victory overall for Italy, who are the initial country to achieve three consecutive titles since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final over five decades back
Local Supporters Inspires Team Italy Triumph
Backed passionately by the vast majority of a packed 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli overcame a slow start to trigger moments of jubilation among the team athletes, coaches and supporters
The champion was mobbed by his teammates on court but took a moment to praise his opponent on his efforts before returning to the celebrations
Star Performers Deliver in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the championship match even with being without star athletes, with the non-participation of top-ranked players denying fans a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant tennis stars
But, with Italian second-ranked another key player too absent, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their moments in the spotlight with three wins from all their matches each during the tournament
Dramatic Comeback Secures Victory
The crowd chanted the player's name as he maintained his composure to close out his comeback victory to zero, having forced the breakthrough in the 11th game of a nail-biting deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had realized a "goal" in delivering his nation to Sunday's final on domestic ground
In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete tore off his jersey in celebration on "among the greatest" moments of his career, the ranked player paid the price for a poor beginning as he lost a one-sided opening set
But the determined player initiated a essential, immediate comeback after falling a behind at the beginning of the second
The Italian's luck appeared to change after a nine-minute pause in play when a spectator of the crowd became unwell
When the match continued, and with Munar down a critical moment, the player lobbed over a volley that hit a fortunate net tape and put the set back on level terms
Although annoyingly denied multiple opportunities on his opponent's serve, Cobolli wrested control of a must-win tie-break to push the final set - where he once again performed
Berrettini Continues Impressive Winning Streak
Berrettini had earlier extended his team competition singles winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly serving out the first set to zero
Having taken 11 of the last 13 points to secure the opening set, the player appeared ready to tighten his grip on the contest upon forcing opportunities in the opening game of the second
His opponent succeeded to survive each before producing a sequence of solid serving performances - but the Italian took his following chance and closed to love to finish his triumph