Italy Secures Historic Third Consecutive Tennis Trophy Title
The Italian player secured the sixth-longest deciding set in team tennis records to overcome his Belgian opponent during the semi-finals
The young Italian star alongside his compatriot guided the Italian squad to team tennis success as the home team beat Spain to secure a historic third consecutive championship in front of an ecstatic local supporters
Two days after he edged a marathon 32-point decider, Cobolli once again starred as he fought back from a set and a break down to overcome Jaume Munar in three sets
The 23-year-old's gritty comeback victory triumph clinched 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 Davis Cup title in total for the Italian team, who are the initial country to achieve three consecutive championships since title holders stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final over five decades back
Home Crowd Inspires Team Italy Victory
Supported passionately by the overwhelming number of a packed 10,000-strong audience, the Italian star conquered a slow start to trigger moments of jubilation among the team athletes, coaches and supporters
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on court but took a brief time to praise Munar on his efforts before returning to the festivities
Star Performers Deliver in Missing Stars
Each Italy and the Spanish team reached the championship match despite missing key players, with the non-participation of top-ranked players denying spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked men's players
But, with Italian second-ranked another key player also absent, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the limelight with three wins from all their matches apiece during the tournament
Dramatic Comeback Secures Victory
The crowd shouted Cobolli's moniker as he maintained his composure to serve out his comeback victory to zero, having achieved the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a nail-biting final set
That was quite an accomplishment, given he had admitted he had achieved a "goal" in delivering his nation to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when Cobolli tore off his shirt in celebration on "among the greatest" moments of his life, the ranked player paid the price for a slow start as he lost a one-sided opening set
But Cobolli launched a essential, swift response after going a break down at the start of the second
The Italian's luck appeared to change after a nine-minute stop in play when a member of the crowd became ill
When play resumed, and with his opponent facing break point, the Italian floated over a volley that hit a fortunate net tape and brought the set back on level terms
Even though annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's service game, the champion seized command of a decisive breaker to force the decider - where he yet again performed
Berrettini Continues Impressive Run
Berrettini had previously taken his team competition singles winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent display against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist converted his third break point for a advantage before assuredly closing the first set to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to take the first set, Berrettini appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the match upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the following set
His opponent managed to survive each before producing a sequence of strong serving performances - but the Italian took his following chance and served out to zero to finish his triumph
