🔗 Share this article

Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini propelled Italy to Davis Cup success as the hosts beat Spain to secure a record-breaking three-peat championship in front of an jubilant home crowd

Two days after he narrowly won an epic lengthy tie-break, Cobolli returned to excelled as he recovered from behind in sets to overcome his Spanish opponent in three sets

The young player's gritty comeback victory success secured a straight sets victory for his nation in the Italian city after Berrettini had won in straight sets against the Spanish player

It is a fourth Davis Cup title overall for the Italian team, who are the first nation to win three consecutive championships since defending champions stopped receiving direct entry to the final 53 years ago

Local Supporters Fuels Team Italy Triumph

Supported enthusiastically by the vast majority of a sell-out capacity crowd, the Italian star conquered a slow start to spark scenes of jubilation among the team athletes, coaches and fans

Cobolli was mobbed by his teammates on court but paused for a moment to commend his opponent on his performance before returning to the festivities

Key Players Step Up in Missing Stars

Each Italy and Spain made the final even with being without star athletes, with the absence of top-ranked players preventing spectators a seventh meeting of 2025 between the world's dominant tennis stars

But, with national number two another key player also missing, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their moments in the spotlight with perfect records from three singles matches apiece this week

Dramatic Comeback Secures Victory

The crowd chanted Cobolli's name as he maintained his composure to serve out his comeback triumph to love, having forced the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set

That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had achieved a "dream" in guiding his nation to Sunday's showpiece on home soil

In contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when Cobolli removed his jersey in celebration on "one of the best" moments of his career, the world number 22 paid the price for a slow start as he lost a one-sided first set

But the determined player launched a necessary, immediate comeback after going a behind at the beginning of the following set

The Italian's luck appeared to shift after a brief stop in the match when a spectator of the crowd became ill

When play resumed, and with his opponent down a critical moment, the Italian lobbed over a volley that hit a lucky net cord and brought the game back on level terms

Even though frustratingly prevented multiple opportunities on his rival's service game, Cobolli seized control of a decisive tie-break to force the final set - where he once again delivered

The Veteran Extends Impressive Winning Streak

The Italian star had earlier extended his team competition individual victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an superb display against Carreno Busta

The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his third break point for a advantage before assuredly closing the opener to love

Having won 11 of the last 13 points to secure the opening set, the player looked set to tighten his grip on the contest upon creating two break points in the initial game of the second

His opponent managed to survive each before producing a sequence of strong serving performances - but the Italian seized his following chance and closed to zero to finish his triumph