Flavio Cobolli secured one of the longest deciding set in Davis Cup records to overcome his Belgian opponent on Friday
The young Italian star and Matteo Berrettini led Italy to team tennis glory as the home team beat Spain to claim a record-breaking third consecutive championship in front of an ecstatic home crowd
48 hours after he edged an epic 32-point decider, Cobolli returned to excelled as he recovered from a set and a break down to beat Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's tenacious comeback victory success clinched a straight sets win for his country in the Italian city after Berrettini had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against the Spanish player
It is a fourth overall team championship title in total for Italy, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since defending champions stopped receiving direct entry to the final over five decades back
Local Supporters Inspires Team Italy Victory
Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, Cobolli overcame a poor beginning to trigger moments of celebration among the Italian athletes, staff and fans
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but took a moment to commend Munar on his performance before rejoining the celebrations
Star Performers Step Up in Absence
Both the Italian squad and Spain made the championship match despite being without star athletes, with the absence of top-ranked players preventing fans a seventh matchup of 2025 between the world's dominant tennis stars
But, with national number two Lorenzo Musetti too missing, the Italian duo owned their opportunities in the limelight with perfect records from all their matches apiece during the tournament
Dramatic Comeback Secures Win
The crowd shouted the player's moniker as he maintained his calm to serve out his recovery victory to love, having achieved the breakthrough in the penultimate game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had stated he had achieved a "goal" in guiding his nation to the showpiece on home soil
In opposition to the scenes of Friday night, when the athlete removed his jersey in celebration on "one of the best" days of his career, the ranked player paid the consequence for a slow start as he conceded a one-sided opening set
But Cobolli initiated a necessary, swift response after going a behind at the start of the second
The Italian's luck appeared to shift after a nine-minute pause in play when a spectator of the audience became ill
When the match resumed, and with Munar facing a critical moment, the player floated over a shot that hit a fortunate net cord and brought the game back on level terms
Even though annoyingly prevented four set points on his rival's service game, Cobolli wrested control of a decisive tie-break to force the final set - where he once again performed
The Veteran Extends Remarkable Winning Streak
The Italian star had earlier taken his Davis Cup singles winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an superb performance against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist used his third break point for a advantage before assuredly closing the first set to love
Having taken the majority of points to take the first set, the player looked set to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to save each before putting together a series of solid service games - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and served out to zero to complete his triumph
