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Flavio Cobolli and his compatriot guided Italy to Davis Cup victory as the hosts beat Spain to claim a historic third successive championship in front of an ecstatic home crowd

48 hours following he narrowly won a marathon lengthy tie-break, the Italian talent returned to starred as he recovered from behind in sets to beat his Spanish opponent in three sets

The young player's tenacious 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 triumph secured a straight sets triumph for his country in Bologna after Berrettini had triumphed 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 win three consecutive championships since defending champions no longer received direct entry to the championship match 53 years ago

Local Supporters Inspires Team Italy Victory

Backed enthusiastically by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong audience, the Italian star conquered a poor beginning to trigger scenes of jubilation among the Italian players, coaches and fans

The champion was surrounded by his team-mates on the playing surface but took a moment to commend his opponent on his performance before rejoining the celebrations

Star Performers Step Up in Missing Stars

Each Italy and the Spanish team made the championship match despite being without star athletes, with the non-participation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner preventing fans a seventh meeting of the season between the world's dominant men's players

But, with Italian number two another key player too absent, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the limelight with perfect records from all their matches each during the tournament

Thrilling Comeback Secures Win

The crowd shouted the player's name as he maintained his composure to close out his comeback victory to zero, having achieved the decisive break in the 11th game of a tense final set

That was quite an accomplishment, given he had admitted he had realized a "goal" in delivering Italy to the showpiece on domestic ground

In contrast to the events of Friday night, when Cobolli tore off his shirt in celebration on "among the greatest" moments of his career, the ranked player faced the consequence for a poor beginning as he lost a dominant first set

But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate comeback after falling a behind at the start of the following set

Cobolli's luck seemed to change after a nine-minute pause in play when a spectator of the audience became ill

When the match continued, and with Munar facing a critical moment, the Italian floated over a volley that hit a fortunate net tape and put the game to deuce

Even though annoyingly prevented four set points on his rival's serve, the champion seized control of a must-win tie-break to push the decider - where he once again performed

Berrettini Extends Remarkable Run

Berrettini had previously taken his Davis Cup individual victory run to 11 matches with an excellent performance against the Spanish opponent

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

Having taken the majority of points to take the opening set, Berrettini appeared ready to tighten his grip on the match upon forcing opportunities in the opening game of the following set

His opponent managed to save each before producing a series of solid serving performances - but Berrettini seized his next opportunity and served out to zero to finish his triumph