Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini led Italy to Davis Cup glory as the hosts beat Spain to capture a historic third successive title in front of an ecstatic home crowd.
Two days after he edged an epic 32-point tie-break to confirm Italy's place in the final, Cobolli once again starred as he battled back from a set and a break down to defeat Jaume Munar in three sets. The 23-year-old's gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 win sealed a 2-0 triumph for his nation in Bologna after Berrettini had prevailed 6-3 6-4 against Pablo Carreno Busta.
It is a fourth Davis Cup title overall for Italy, who are the first nation to win three straight titles since defending champions stopped receiving automatic qualification to the final 53 years ago. Backed passionately by the vast majority of a sell-out 10,000-strong crowd, Cobolli overcame a slow start to trigger scenes of jubilation among the Italian players, staff and supporters.
Cobolli was mobbed by his team-mates on court but took a moment to commend Munar on his efforts before rejoining the celebrations. Both Italy and Spain reached the final despite missing key players, with the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner denying fans a seventh meeting of 2025 between the world's dominant men's players.
But, with Italian number two Lorenzo Musetti also absent, Cobolli and Berrettini owned their moments in the spotlight with three wins from three singles matches apiece. The crowd chanted Cobolli's name as he kept his composure to serve out his comeback victory to love, having forced the breakthrough in the 11th game of a tense deciding set.
That was no mean feat, given he had admitted he had achieved a "dream" in delivering Italy to the showpiece on home soil. In contrast to the scenes of Friday night, when Cobolli tore off his shirt in celebration on "one of the best days" of his life, the world number 22 paid the price for a slow start as he conceded a one-sided opening set.
But Cobolli launched a necessary, immediate response after falling a break down at the start of the second. His fortunes appeared to change 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 Italian floated over a volley that caught a fortunate net cord and put the set back on level terms. Although frustratingly denied four set points on his opponent's serve, Cobolli wrested control of a must-win tie-break to force the decider - where he once again delivered.
Berrettini had earlier taken his Davis Cup singles winning streak to 11 matches with an excellent performance against Carreno Busta. The former Wimbledon runner-up converted his third break point for a 5-3 lead before confidently serving out the opener to love.
Having won 11 of the last 13 points to take the first set, Berrettini looked set to tighten his grip on the contest upon forcing two break points in the opening game of the second. Carreno Busta managed to survive both before putting together a series of solid service games - but Berrettini took his next opportunity and served out to love to complete his victory.
