Italy Secures Record Third Straight Tennis Trophy Championship

Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini led Italy to team tennis success as the hosts beat Spain to secure a historic third consecutive championship in front of an overjoyed home crowd

Two days following he edged 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 tenacious comeback victory success sealed a straight sets win for his nation in Bologna after Berrettini had won in straight sets against the Spanish player

It is a fourth overall team championship victory in total for Italy, who are the first nation to achieve three consecutive championships since defending champions no longer received direct entry to the championship match over five decades back

Local Supporters Fuels Italian Victory

Backed passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out capacity audience, the Italian star overcame a poor beginning to spark scenes of celebration among the Italian players, staff and supporters

The champion was mobbed by his team-mates on court but took a brief time to commend Munar on his performance before returning to the festivities

Star Performers Deliver in Missing Stars

Both Italy and the Spanish team reached the championship match despite being without star athletes, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh meeting of the season between the world's dominant tennis stars

But, with Italian second-ranked another key player too missing, Cobolli and Berrettini seized their moments in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece during the tournament

Thrilling Comeback Seals Win

The crowd chanted Cobolli's moniker as he kept his calm to serve out his comeback triumph to zero, having achieved the decisive break in the penultimate game of a nail-biting deciding set

That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had achieved a "goal" in delivering Italy to Sunday's final on home soil

In contrast to the events of the previous match, when Cobolli tore off his jersey in celebration on "one of the best" moments of his career, the world number 22 paid the consequence for a slow start as he conceded a one-sided first set

But Cobolli initiated a necessary, swift response after falling a behind at the beginning of the second

Cobolli'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 facing break point, the player floated over a volley that caught a lucky net cord and put the set to deuce

Even though annoyingly prevented multiple opportunities on his opponent's service game, Cobolli seized command of a must-win tie-break to force the final set - where he yet again delivered

The Veteran Continues Impressive Run

Berrettini had earlier taken his team competition singles winning streak to eleven consecutive wins with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta

The Grand Slam finalist used his third break point for a 5-3 lead before assuredly closing the first set to love

Having won the majority of points to secure the opening set, the player appeared ready to tighten his grip on the contest upon creating two break points in the opening game of the second

Carreno Busta managed to save both before producing a series of strong service games - but Berrettini seized his following chance and closed to love to complete his victory