Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli won their singles matches in the Davis Cup Final 8 semifinals beating Belgium 2-0 in front of their home fans.
Italy reached the championships match for the third consecutive year. Should Italy win Sunday’s final, Italy would become the first country in history win three straight Davis Cup titles since 1971. Italy would have the chance to win the Davis Cup on home soil for the first time. The Italian team achieved their other wins in 1976, 2023 and 2024 away from home.
Italy is the first team to reach three consecutive finals since Australia in 2001.
Berrettini beat Raphael Collignon 6-3 6-4 in the first singles match to earn Italy a 1-0 lead.
Berrettini converted his third break point in the second game and consolidated the break by holding serve at 30 to open up a a 3-0 lead. Collignon saved a break point as he was serving to stay in the set. Berrettini served out the opening set 6-3 on his second set point in the ninth game.
Berrettini went up a set and a break in the first game of the second set. Collignon saved a break point to hold serve at deuce in the third game. The Belgian player broke back in the fourth game at 30 with a backhand pass down the line to draw level to 2-2. Berrettini saved a break point in the sixth game with a forehand pass.
Berettini earned the break point with a topspin backhand lob in the seventh game. The 2021 Wimbledon finalist broke serve with a volley winner. The Italian closed out the second set 6-4 on his first match point.
Berrettini has won eight Davis Cup consecutive matches.
“Honestly, a really good performance I would say on my side. I should have won the second set… It’s tough to say ‘should’, but I was a set and break, going for a double break. I was playing really good. I could have done a little bit more in the first break point. He started to play better, but that’s tennis. I accepted it”, said Matteo Berrettini.
Cobolli saved seven match points to beat Zizou Bergs 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (17-15) in 3 hours and 4 minutes and closed out the win on his own eighth match point after an epic match to send the Italian team into Sunday’s final.
Cobolli needed only one break in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead and closed out the first set 6-3 on his fifth set point in the ninth game.
Neither player was able to earn a break point in the second set. Cobolli and Bergs traded mini-breaks on the second and fourth points in the tie-break. Bergs earned a second mini-break to seal the tie-break 7-5.
Bergs rallied from 0-40 down to earn his first break point of the match in the third game of the decisive set. Cobolli saved three break points in this game.
Bergs earned a break point at 4-4, but Cobolli saved it with an ace to hold serve. Cobolli held two match points, as Bergs was serving to stay in the match. The Belgian player saved both of them to hold serve for 5-5.
Bergs earned two match points of his own at 6-4 in the tie-break, but he was unable to convert them.
Cobolli fended off Bergs’ third match point at 6-7 with a smash. Bergs hit a forehand volley to save Cobolli’s third match point drawing level to 9-9.
Bergs hit a drop shot on his seventh match point, but Cobolli saved it with a winner. Cobolli hit a service winner down the middle with a service winner up the middle on the eighth match point to seal the win to the delight of the Italian fans who packed the Supertennis Arena. The final set tie-break featuring 32 points was the sixth-longest in Davis Cup history.
Cobolli ripped his shirt off after the match to celebrate the win.
“It’s really tough to say something about this match… at the end, I realised my dream, we are in the final. I played an amazing match against an amazing opponent. I played for my team, my family, for me… it’s one of the best days of my life”, said Cobolli.
The Italian team will face the winner of the second semifinal between Spain and Germany.
“In my five years as a captain, I’ve never seen anything like that. But this is what Davis Cup does. It was incredible. At the end, I told [Flavio], it’s five percent tactic and 95 percent heart”, said Italian Davis Cup captain Filippo Volandri.
