🔗 Share this article

Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini propelled the Italian squad to Davis Cup victory as the hosts beat the Spanish team to capture a record-breaking third consecutive title in front of an ecstatic local supporters

Two days after he edged an epic lengthy decider, Cobolli once again shone as he battled back from behind in sets to overcome his Spanish opponent in a grueling match

The young player's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win sealed a straight sets triumph for his country in Bologna after Berrettini had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against the Spanish player

It is a fourth overall team championship victory in total for Italy, who are the first nation to achieve three straight titles since title holders no longer received automatic qualification to the championship match 53 years ago

Local Supporters Fuels Italian Victory

Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a sell-out capacity crowd, Cobolli conquered a slow start to spark moments of jubilation among the team players, coaches and supporters

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

Star Performers Step Up in Missing Stars

Both Italy and Spain reached the final despite missing star athletes, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh matchup of 2025 between the world's dominant men's players

But, with Italian number two another key player too missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the limelight with three wins from three singles matches each during the tournament

Dramatic Recovery Secures Win

The audience chanted the player's moniker as he kept his composure to close out his comeback triumph to zero, having achieved the decisive break in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set

That was quite an accomplishment, given he had stated he had realized a "goal" in delivering Italy to the showpiece on home soil

In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete tore off his jersey in celebration on "among the greatest" days of his life, the ranked player paid the price for a slow start as he lost a dominant first set

But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate response after going a behind at the beginning of the following set

Cobolli's luck appeared to change after a nine-minute pause in the match when a spectator of the audience became unwell

When play resumed, and with his opponent facing break point, the Italian lobbed over a shot that hit a lucky net cord and brought the set to deuce

Even though annoyingly prevented four set points on his rival's serve, Cobolli seized command of a decisive tie-break to push the final set - where he once again performed

The Veteran Continues Remarkable Run

The Italian star had previously extended his Davis Cup individual victory run to 11 matches with an excellent performance against the Spanish opponent

The Grand Slam finalist used his third break point for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the first set to zero

Having won the majority of points to secure the opening set, the player appeared ready to tighten his hold on the contest upon creating two break points in the opening game of the following set

His opponent managed to save each before putting together a sequence of strong serving performances - but Berrettini took his following chance and served out to love to complete his triumph