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Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini guided Italy to Davis Cup victory as the hosts defeated the Spanish team to secure a historic third consecutive championship in front of an jubilant home crowd

48 hours following he narrowly won an epic lengthy tie-break, the Italian talent once again shone as he fought back from behind in sets to beat Jaume Munar in three sets

The young player's determined 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 success sealed a straight sets victory for his country in Bologna after Berrettini had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta

It is a fourth overall Davis Cup victory in total for Italy, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since title holders stopped receiving direct entry to the championship match over five decades back

Local Supporters Inspires Team Italy Triumph

Backed passionately by the overwhelming number of a packed 10,000-strong crowd, the Italian star overcame a poor beginning to trigger scenes of celebration among the Italian athletes, staff and supporters

The champion was surrounded by his teammates on the playing surface but paused for a brief time to praise Munar on his performance before rejoining the celebrations

Key Players Deliver in Absence

Each the Italian squad and Spain reached the championship match despite being without key players, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh meeting of 2025 between the world's dominant tennis stars

But, with national number two another key player too absent, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their opportunities in the spotlight with perfect records from three singles matches each during the tournament

Dramatic Recovery Secures Victory

The audience shouted Cobolli's name as he kept his calm to close out his comeback triumph to love, having achieved the decisive break in the 11th game of a tense 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 contrast to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete removed his shirt in jubilation on "one of the best" days of his life, the world number 22 paid the price for a slow start as he conceded a dominant first set

But Cobolli initiated a necessary, swift response after falling a break down at the start of the second

Cobolli's fortunes seemed to shift after a nine-minute pause in play when a spectator of the audience became unwell

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

Although frustratingly denied four set points on his opponent's service game, the champion seized command of a decisive breaker to push the final set - where he once again performed

The Veteran Extends Impressive Winning Streak

Berrettini had previously extended his Davis Cup individual victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an superb performance against the Spanish opponent

The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his decisive opportunity for a 5-3 lead before confidently closing the opener to zero

Having taken 11 of the last 13 points to secure the first set, Berrettini appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the match upon forcing opportunities in the initial game of the following set

Carreno Busta succeeded to save both before producing a sequence of strong serving performances - but Berrettini took his following chance and closed to love to complete his victory