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Flavio Cobolli alongside Matteo Berrettini guided Italy to Davis Cup victory as the hosts defeated Spain to claim a record-breaking three-peat championship in front of an overjoyed home crowd

48 hours after he narrowly won a marathon 32-point tie-break, Cobolli returned to starred as he fought back from behind in sets to beat Jaume Munar in three sets

The 23-year-old's determined comeback victory triumph secured a straight sets triumph for his nation in Bologna after his teammate had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta

It is a fourth overall Davis Cup title overall for the Italian team, 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

Home Crowd Fuels Italian Triumph

Supported passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, the Italian star overcame a poor beginning to spark moments of celebration among the Italian players, coaches and supporters

Cobolli was surrounded by his team-mates on the playing surface but paused for a brief time to praise his opponent on his efforts before returning to the celebrations

Star Performers Step Up in Missing Stars

Both the Italian squad and Spain reached the championship match despite being without star athletes, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing spectators a seventh matchup of the season between the world's dominant men's players

But, with national number two another key player also missing, the Italian duo owned their moments in the spotlight with perfect records from three singles matches apiece this week

Dramatic Comeback Secures Victory

The crowd chanted the player's name as he maintained his composure to close out his comeback triumph to love, having achieved the decisive break in the 11th game of a tense deciding set

That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had achieved a "dream" in guiding Italy to the showpiece on domestic ground

In opposition to the scenes of the previous match, when the athlete removed his shirt in celebration on "among the greatest" moments of his life, the ranked player faced the consequence for a poor beginning as he conceded a dominant first set

But the determined player initiated a essential, immediate comeback after falling a break down at the beginning of the second

The Italian's luck seemed to shift after a nine-minute stop in play when a member of the crowd became unwell

When play resumed, and with Munar down break point, the player floated over a shot that caught a lucky net cord and brought the set back on level terms

Although annoyingly denied multiple opportunities on his opponent's service game, the champion wrested command of a decisive tie-break to force the decider - where he yet again delivered

The Veteran Continues Remarkable Winning Streak

The Italian star had earlier taken his team competition singles victory run to eleven consecutive wins with an superb display against Carreno Busta

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

Having taken 11 of the last 13 points to take the first set, the player appeared ready to strengthen his hold on the contest upon creating opportunities in the opening game of the second

His opponent managed to survive both before producing a sequence of solid service games - but Berrettini seized his following chance and closed to love to finish his victory