Italy have been crowned Davis Cup champions for a third successive year, after victory over Spain. The two teams reached the final despite the absence of their respective star players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in Bologna this week.
And it was Italy who retained their title after Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli won their singles matches on Sunday. Berrettini beat Pablo Carreño Busta 6-3, 6-4 in the opening contest and an entertaining tussle between Cobolli and Jaume Munar followed in which the Italian charged back to win 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
Berrettini served 13 aces as he raced through his match in one hour and 18 minutes.
The 2021 Wimbledon finalist clinched the only break in the eighth game and went on to serve out the set. Little could separate the pair in the second, but Berrettini again found a break deep into the set to inch the Italians closer to victory.
Munar, needing to win the second singles match to force a doubles decider, stormed through the opening set with two breaks of serve. The Spaniard also broke Cobolli in the opening game of the second, but the Italian immediately responded with a break of his own in the next and went on to win the tie-break. And Cobolli found the crucial break of serve in the 11th game of the deciding set before serving out the match to love to secure Italy’s success.
Both teams were missing their key men, with Spain deprived of the injured world No 1, Alcaraz, and Italy without the world No 2, Sinner, who skipped the final to focus on preparing for next season.
