Italy Clinches Record Three-Peat Tennis Trophy Championship

Italian celebration

The Italian player secured one of the longest deciding set in team tennis records to beat his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals

Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot propelled the Italian squad to Davis Cup victory as the home team overcame the Spanish team to secure a historic third successive championship in front of an jubilant local supporters

Two days after he edged a marathon lengthy decider, the Italian talent once again excelled as he fought back from a set and a break down to beat Jaume Munar in a grueling match

The young player's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph clinched a 2-0 win for his nation in Bologna after his teammate had prevailed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta

It is a fourth overall team championship victory overall for Italy, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive titles since defending champions no longer received direct entry to the final 53 years ago

Local Supporters Fuels Italian Victory

Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a packed capacity audience, the Italian star conquered a poor beginning to trigger moments of jubilation among the team players, staff and supporters

The champion was surrounded by his teammates on court but paused for a brief time to commend Munar on his performance before returning to the celebrations

Star Performers Deliver in Absence

Each the Italian squad and Spain made the championship match even with being without 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 Italian number two Lorenzo Musetti too absent, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the limelight with perfect records from three singles matches apiece during the tournament

Dramatic Comeback Seals Victory

The crowd shouted Cobolli's name as he kept his composure to close out his comeback victory to zero, having achieved the decisive break in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set

That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "dream" in guiding his nation to the final on home soil

In contrast to the events of Friday night, when Cobolli tore off his shirt in jubilation on "among the greatest" days of his career, the world number 22 faced the price for a slow start as he conceded a dominant opening set

But the determined player launched a necessary, immediate comeback after going a behind at the start of the second

Cobolli's fortunes seemed to shift after a brief pause in the match when a spectator of the audience became unwell

When the match continued, and with Munar facing break point, the player floated over a volley that caught a lucky net cord and put the game back on level terms

Although annoyingly denied four set points on his opponent's service game, Cobolli wrested command of a must-win breaker to force the final set - where he yet again performed

The Veteran Extends Impressive Run

The Italian star had earlier extended his team competition individual winning streak to 11 matches with an superb performance against Carreno Busta

The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before confidently serving out the opener to zero

Having won the majority of points to take the first set, Berrettini appeared ready to strengthen his grip on the match upon creating two break points in the initial game of the following set

His opponent succeeded to survive both before producing a sequence of solid service games - but Berrettini seized his following chance and served out to love to finish his victory

Timothy Howard
Timothy Howard

A tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering consumer electronics and digital innovation, passionate about making tech accessible.