The Italian team Wins Historic Three-Peat Tennis Trophy Championship
Flavio Cobolli secured one of the longest tie-break in team tennis history to defeat Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
Flavio Cobolli alongside his compatriot guided Italy to team tennis victory as the hosts beat Spain to claim a historic third successive title in front of an jubilant local supporters
48 hours after he edged an epic lengthy decider, Cobolli once again excelled as he recovered from a set and a break down to overcome Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The young player's gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph secured a straight sets victory for his country in the Italian city after his teammate had prevailed in straight sets against the Spanish player
It is a fourth team championship victory overall for Italy, who are the initial country to win three straight titles since title holders stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Italian Victory
Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a packed 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli conquered a slow start to trigger scenes of celebration among the Italian players, coaches and fans
The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on the playing surface but took a brief time to commend Munar on his performance before returning to the festivities
Star Performers Deliver in Absence
Both Italy and the Spanish team made the final even with missing star athletes, with the absence of top-ranked players preventing spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with national number two another key player also absent, the Italian duo owned their moments in the limelight with three wins from three singles matches apiece during the tournament
Thrilling Recovery Seals Win
The crowd shouted the player's moniker as he maintained his composure to close out his recovery victory to love, having achieved the breakthrough in the 11th game of a tense deciding set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had realized a "dream" in delivering his nation to Sunday's showpiece on domestic ground
In contrast to the events of the previous match, when the athlete tore off his jersey in jubilation on "one of the best" days of his career, the ranked player paid the price for a slow start as he lost a one-sided first set
But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate comeback after going a break down at the start of the following set
Cobolli's fortunes appeared to change after a brief pause in play when a spectator of the crowd became ill
When the match resumed, and with Munar down break point, the Italian lobbed over a volley that hit a lucky net cord and put the set back on level terms
Although frustratingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's serve, the champion wrested control of a decisive breaker to force the final set - where he yet again performed
Berrettini Continues Remarkable Run
The Italian star had earlier extended his Davis Cup singles winning streak to 11 matches with an superb performance against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a advantage before assuredly serving out the opener to love
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to take the first set, Berrettini looked set to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating two break points in the opening game of the second
His opponent managed to save each before producing a sequence of strong service games - but the Italian took his next opportunity and closed to zero to complete his triumph