Italy Secures Historic Third Straight Davis Cup Championship
The Italian player secured the sixth-longest tie-break in team tennis history to overcome his Belgian opponent on Friday
The young Italian star and Matteo Berrettini propelled Italy to Davis Cup victory as the home team defeated the Spanish team to secure a record-breaking three-peat championship in front of an overjoyed local supporters
Two days after he edged a marathon 32-point decider, the Italian talent returned to starred as he fought back from behind in sets to defeat his Spanish opponent in a grueling match
The young player's gritty comeback victory triumph sealed a 2-0 win for his country in the Italian city after his teammate had triumphed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth team championship title in total for Italy, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since defending champions no longer received automatic qualification to the final over five decades back
Home Crowd Fuels Italian Victory
Backed enthusiastically by the vast majority of a packed capacity audience, the Italian star overcame a slow start to spark scenes of celebration among the Italian players, staff and supporters
Cobolli was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but paused for a moment to praise his opponent on his performance before returning to the festivities
Star Performers Deliver in Missing Stars
Both the Italian squad and Spain reached the championship match even with being without key players, with the non-participation of top-ranked players denying spectators a seventh meeting of the season between the top-ranked tennis stars
But, with Italian second-ranked another key player too missing, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their opportunities in the spotlight with perfect records from three singles matches each during the tournament
Dramatic Comeback Secures Victory
The crowd shouted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his calm to close out his comeback victory to zero, having forced the decisive break in the 11th game of a nail-biting final set
That was quite an accomplishment, given he had stated he had realized a "goal" in delivering his nation to Sunday's final on home soil
In opposition to the events of Friday night, when the athlete tore off his jersey in jubilation on "among the greatest" days of his career, the ranked player paid the consequence for a slow start as he lost a dominant opening set
But the determined player launched a necessary, immediate comeback after falling a break down at the start of the following set
The Italian's luck appeared to change after a nine-minute stop in the match when a spectator of the audience became unwell
When play resumed, and with his opponent facing break point, the player floated over a shot that hit a lucky net cord and brought the set to deuce
Even though annoyingly denied four set points on his rival's serve, the champion seized control of a decisive tie-break to force the final set - where he once again performed
Berrettini Continues Remarkable Run
Berrettini had previously extended his Davis Cup individual victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent display against the Spanish opponent
The Grand Slam finalist used his decisive opportunity for a advantage before assuredly closing the first set to love
Having taken 11 of the last 13 points to secure the first set, the player appeared ready to tighten his hold on the contest upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the second
Carreno Busta managed to save each before putting together a sequence of solid serving performances - but the Italian took his following chance and closed to zero to complete his victory