Davis Cup Finals: Italy beat Spain to win historic third successive title

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 this week.

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 Sunday’s 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.

Cobolli’s 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.