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“At the end, I looked at my bench and found something in my heart.”<\/b><\/p>\n
For Flavio Cobolli, the faces cheering for him from the sidelines provided the extra impetus he needed as he fought to realise his dream of becoming a world champion.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old secured a historic third successive Davis Cup title for Italy by battling back from a set and a break down against Spain’s Jaume Munar to seal a 2-0 triumph in front of an jubilant home crowd in Bologna.<\/p>\n
Cobolli’s gritty 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 victory, achieved two days after he confirmed Italy’s place in Sunday’s showpiece by winning an epic 32-point tie-break<\/a>, followed Matteo Berrettini’s 6-3 6-4 win over Pablo Carreno Busta.<\/p>\n It was an Italian double act long in the making.<\/p>\n Berrettini worked with Cobolli’s father, former player Stefano, as a youngster. He would often be called upon to babysit Cobolli – six years his junior – and kept him occupied by playing tennis with him.<\/p>\n