Cobolli steers Italy to third straight Davis Cup

Flavio Cobolli’s exploit steered Italy to their third straight Davis Cup title. Italy is now the first country to win three titles in a row in the post-Challenge Round era, which began way back in 1972.

Having won the trophy in Malaga in 2023 and 2024, they’ve now won it in front of their home fans for the first time in history, beating Spain 2-0 in an absorbing contest in Bologna.

Just as he did in the quarter-final and semi-final, Cobolli clinched the winning point, recovering from a slow start but eventually setting the match alight with his shotmaking to beat Jaume Munar 1-6 7-6 (5) 7-5 in front of a partisan and passionate sell-out crowd of 10,000 inside the SuperTennis Arena. Earlier, the irrepressible Matteo Berrettini had given Italy the lead in the final by defeating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-4.

With this victory, Italy have also become the first non-Grand Slam nation to win the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup and titles in the same season on multiple occasions, following USA and Australia. It’s a quite remarkable feat, all the more so because they’ve done it in Bologna this week without the services of either Jannik Sinner or Lorenzo Musetti, both Top 10 players.

Instead, it’s been about showcasing the depth of this current talent pool, with childhood friends Cobolli and Berrettini leading Filippo Volandri’s team. After Cobolli had struck the winning forehand, it was Berrettini who was the first to scale the barricade and join him on court for the celebrations. The rest of the team quickly joined and they jumped and jumped for joy.

Berrettini put in a flawless performance to kick off the final and set Italy on course to make history.

In front of an expectant and passionate home crowd, Berrettini broke through at 4-3 in the opening set as Carreno Busta threw in three unforced errors to gift the Italian triple break point. Berrettini converted with a nice backhand volley which brought many of the fans inside the SuperTennis Arena to their feet. They sat down briefly, but they were cheering and hollering again moments later after Berrettini had served out the set impressively.

It was a similar story in the second set, with one break at 4-4 enough for Berrettini to win it. He served out the match to love, with the only drama coming when Spain were given an unsportsmanlike conduct warning after protests from Carreno Busta and captain David Ferrer because of noise during the rally. The crowd booed and whistled, and then cheered when Berrettini won the final point. Berrettini beat his chest and roared in celebration as the stands around him shook with excitement.

Just as he did last year, Berrettini had given his side the lead in the final. But there were two differences here. This time, he’d done it in his home country, which made it extra special. And this time, he wasn’t handing over to Jannik Sinner, but to Flavio Cobolli. His final words as he spoke to the crowd? ‘Forza Flavio!”

Cobolli received a hero’s welcome as he stepped back onto the court where he was last seen saving seven match points and winning an extraordinary 32-point tiebreak in the semi-final against Belgium.

But Munar did not care about the crowd’s feelings as he began the match with astonishing intensity, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. He was destroying Cobolli’s second serve and making the home fans increasingly irate as he painted the lines with winners. He then rubbed salt into the wounds by saving all five break points that Cobolli created, mostly with big serving. One more blistering winner from Munar was a fitting way for the set to finish.

There were no signs that things were going to change when Munar opened the set with yet another break of serve as Cobolli continued to look dejected.

But, perhaps with the precariousness of the situation dawning on him, Cobolli found a spark in the next game and got the breakthrough he was looking for, aided by a wonderful defensive lob which Munar smashed wide. When Cobolli held serve in the next game to take a 2-1 lead, he skipped back to his chair with a spring in his step. For the first time all match, he had life.

As the set developed it became the most compelling theatre, with Munar turning heel and provoking the crowd to boo him with some of his reactions to net cords and close calls. It was an approach that his captain seemed to advise against and he quickly refocused. Cobolli was now striking the ball with much more of his usual sting, but Munar was countering with his trademark hustle, making for brilliant viewing.

With Munar serving at 5-6, Cobolli piled on the pressure. He brought up set point after an inside out forehand set up a smash winner. But it was brilliantly saved by Munar who found a timely serve-forehand combination. From that point, the game seemed to be stuck in a loop, with the same pattern playing out. Cobolli would bring up a set point with an audacious forehand and Munar would save it with some gutsy play off a timely first serve. In all, Munar saved four set points and pushed them to a tie-break.

By now, Cobolli was the one playing on the front foot and the trend continued in the tiebreak. He grabbed a mini-break and put his finger to his ear after a lengthy exchange. He continued to boss the tie-break and held three more set points at 6-3. Munar saved two more but Cobolli finally converted his seventh – doing so with an enormous forehand and immediately leaping into the air to celebrate. The crowd were in raptures and we were in for a one-set shootout.

The third set zipped along at quite a pace with neither player giving up a break point until 5-5. Munar was working hard to try and re-establish some of his first set aggression, while Cobolli continued to feed off the energy of the crowd.

But at 5-5, with the chants of “ITALIA” ringing around the stadium, Cobolli had two break points. Munar saved the first with a ridiculous serve and volley pick up, only for Cobolli to grab the second with yet another forehand winner.

Coming out to serve for the match, Cobolli was met by a wall of noise which powered him over the line. The title was Italy’s, again.