Italy Secures Record Third Consecutive Davis Cup Title
The Italian player won the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup history to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli alongside his compatriot guided the Italian squad to team tennis victory as the hosts overcame the Spanish team to secure a historic third successive title in front of an jubilant home crowd
48 hours after he edged a marathon lengthy decider, Cobolli returned to excelled as he battled back from a set and a break down to beat Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's gritty comeback victory triumph secured a straight sets triumph for his nation in the Italian city after his teammate had prevailed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth overall team championship victory in total for Italy, who are the initial country to achieve three consecutive championships since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final over five decades back
Home Crowd Fuels Italian Victory
Supported passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong crowd, the Italian star overcame a slow start to trigger moments of jubilation among the Italian players, coaches and supporters
The champion was mobbed by his teammates on court but paused for a moment to praise his opponent on his efforts before returning to the celebrations
Key Players Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain reached the final even with missing key players, with the absence of top-ranked players denying spectators a seventh matchup of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with Italian second-ranked another key player too missing, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the limelight with perfect records from three singles matches apiece this week
Thrilling Comeback Secures Win
The audience shouted Cobolli's moniker as he maintained his composure to serve out his comeback victory to love, 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 Sunday's final on domestic ground
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete tore off his shirt in celebration on "one of the best" moments of his career, the ranked player faced the consequence for a slow start as he lost a one-sided opening set
But Cobolli initiated a necessary, swift response after falling a behind at the start of the second
The Italian's luck appeared to shift after a brief stop in play when a member of the crowd became ill
When the match resumed, and with his opponent facing a critical moment, the player lobbed over a volley that caught a fortunate net cord and put the set back on level terms
Although annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's serve, Cobolli wrested control of a must-win tie-break to force the final set - where he yet again delivered
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Run
Berrettini had earlier extended his Davis Cup individual winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent performance against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly serving out the opener to love
Having taken the majority of points to take the opening set, Berrettini looked set to strengthen his hold on the match upon creating two break points in the opening game of the second
His opponent managed to survive both before putting together a series of strong serving performances - but Berrettini seized his following chance and closed to love to finish his triumph