The Italian team Clinches Record Third Straight Tennis Trophy Championship

Italian victory moment

Flavio Cobolli won the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup history to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday

The young Italian star alongside his compatriot guided Italy to team tennis victory as the hosts beat Spain to secure a historic third consecutive championship in front of an overjoyed local supporters

Two days following he narrowly won a marathon 32-point decider, the Italian talent returned to shone as he fought back from a set and a break down to overcome Jaume Munar in a grueling match

The young player's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success secured a straight sets triumph for his nation in the Italian city after his teammate had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against the Spanish player

It is a fourth overall team championship victory overall for Italy, who are the initial country to win three consecutive titles since title holders stopped receiving automatic qualification to the championship match 53 years ago

Local Supporters Inspires Italian Victory

Supported passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong crowd, Cobolli conquered a poor beginning to trigger moments of celebration among the team athletes, coaches and fans

Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on court but took a moment to commend Munar on his performance before rejoining the festivities

Key Players Deliver in Absence

Both the Italian squad and Spain made the final despite missing star athletes, with the absence of top-ranked players denying fans a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked men's players

But, with national number two Lorenzo Musetti also missing, the Italian duo seized their moments in the limelight with three wins from three singles matches apiece during the tournament

Dramatic Recovery Seals Win

The crowd chanted Cobolli's name as he kept his composure to serve out his recovery victory to love, having forced the decisive break in the penultimate game of a tense final set

That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had realized a "dream" in guiding his nation to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground

In contrast to the events of the previous match, when Cobolli tore off his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" days of his life, the world number 22 faced the price for a slow start as he conceded a one-sided opening set

But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate response after falling a break down at the start of the second

The Italian's luck appeared to shift after a nine-minute pause in the match when a member of the audience became unwell

When the match resumed, and with Munar down a critical moment, the Italian floated over a volley that hit a lucky net cord and brought the set back on level terms

Even though frustratingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's serve, the champion seized command of a decisive tie-break to push the decider - where he once again performed

The Veteran Continues Impressive Run

Berrettini had previously extended his Davis Cup individual victory run to 11 matches with an superb performance against Carreno Busta

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

Having won the majority of points to secure the opening set, Berrettini appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the contest upon forcing two break points in the initial game of the following set

His opponent managed to save both before putting together a series of strong serving performances - but Berrettini took his next opportunity and served out to zero to complete his victory

Mary Allen PhD
Mary Allen PhD

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