Italy Wins Historic Third Consecutive Tennis Trophy Championship
The Italian player won the sixth-longest deciding set in team tennis history to overcome Belgium's Zizou Bergs on Friday
The young Italian star alongside Matteo Berrettini led the Italian squad to team tennis glory as the home team overcame the Spanish team to secure a historic third consecutive championship in front of an overjoyed home crowd
Two days after he narrowly won a marathon 32-point decider, Cobolli returned to starred as he battled back from behind in sets to defeat Jaume Munar in a grueling match
The 23-year-old's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success clinched a straight sets win for his country in Bologna after his teammate had triumphed in straight sets against Pablo Carreno Busta
It is a fourth team championship victory overall for Italy, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive titles since title holders stopped receiving direct entry to the championship match 53 years ago
Local Supporters Fuels Italian Triumph
Supported enthusiastically by the overwhelming number of a packed capacity crowd, the Italian star conquered a poor beginning to trigger moments of jubilation among the Italian players, coaches and fans
Cobolli was mobbed by his team-mates on the playing surface but paused for a moment to commend Munar on his performance before returning to the celebrations
Star Performers Deliver in Missing Stars
Both the Italian squad and Spain reached the final even with missing key players, with the absence of top-ranked players denying spectators a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant men's players
But, with national number two another key player also absent, the Italian duo seized their moments in the limelight with perfect records from all their matches apiece during the tournament
Thrilling Comeback Seals Victory
The audience chanted the player's moniker as he kept his composure to close out his recovery triumph to love, having achieved the decisive break in the 11th game of a tense final set
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had realized a "dream" in guiding Italy to the final on home soil
In opposition to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete removed his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" moments of his career, the ranked player faced the consequence for a slow start as he lost a one-sided first set
But Cobolli initiated a essential, immediate response after going a behind at the beginning of the second
Cobolli's fortunes appeared to shift after a nine-minute stop in play when a member of the audience became ill
When play continued, and with Munar down break point, the player floated over a shot that hit a lucky net tape and put the set back on level terms
Although annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's service game, the champion wrested command of a decisive breaker to force the final set - where he once again performed
Berrettini Continues Remarkable Run
The Italian star had earlier taken his Davis Cup individual winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent display against Carreno Busta
The Grand Slam finalist converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the opener to zero
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to take the opening set, the player appeared ready to tighten his grip on the match upon forcing opportunities in the opening game of the second
Carreno Busta succeeded to save each before putting together a sequence of solid serving performances - but Berrettini seized his following chance and served out to zero to complete his triumph