Italy Clinches Historic Third Straight Tennis Trophy Title
Flavio Cobolli secured the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup records to defeat his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
The young Italian star alongside his compatriot guided Italy to Davis Cup glory as the home team overcame Spain to secure a record-breaking third consecutive championship in front of an jubilant home crowd
48 hours after he edged a marathon 32-point decider, the Italian talent returned to starred as he recovered from a set and a break down to beat Jaume Munar in three sets
The 23-year-old's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win sealed a straight sets triumph for his nation in the Italian city after Berrettini had prevailed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall Davis Cup victory in total for the Italian team, who are the initial country to achieve three straight championships since defending champions no longer received automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Italian Triumph
Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, the Italian star conquered a slow start to spark scenes of celebration among the team athletes, coaches and supporters
Cobolli was mobbed by his team-mates on court but paused for a moment to commend Munar on his performance before returning to the festivities
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the championship match despite being without key players, with the non-participation of top-ranked players denying spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the world's dominant tennis stars
But, with Italian number two another key player also absent, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their opportunities in the spotlight with perfect records from all their matches each this week
Thrilling Comeback Seals Victory
The audience chanted Cobolli's moniker as he maintained his composure to serve out his comeback victory to love, having achieved the decisive break in the 11th game of a nail-biting final set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had realized a "dream" in delivering Italy to Sunday's showpiece on home soil
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete tore off his shirt in celebration on "among the greatest" days of his career, the ranked player paid the consequence for a poor beginning as he lost a one-sided first set
But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate response after going a break down at the beginning of the second
Cobolli's luck seemed to shift after a brief stop in the match when a spectator of the crowd became ill
When the match resumed, and with Munar down a critical moment, the Italian lobbed over a volley that hit a lucky net cord and put the game to deuce
Even though annoyingly prevented four set points on his opponent's serve, the champion seized control of a decisive tie-break to push the decider - where he yet again delivered
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Run
Berrettini had previously extended his team competition individual winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent display against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly serving out the first set to love
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the first set, Berrettini looked set to tighten his hold on the match upon creating two break points in the opening game of the following set
Carreno Busta succeeded to save each before producing a sequence of solid serving performances - but the Italian took his next opportunity and served out to love to complete his victory