BOLOGNA, Italy – Italy has been crowned Davis Cup champions for a third successive year, after a 2-0 victory over Spain. The two teams reached the final despite the absence of their respective star players, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, in Bologna.
Italy retained their title after Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli won their singles matches. Berrettini beat Pablo Carreno 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.
Spain too was missing their top player in world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz, but the six-time Grand Slam winner would have played had he not suffered a hamstring injury during his ATP Finals showdown with Sinner a week ago.
The head of the International Tennis Federation insisted that top players were not snubbing the competition.
“There’s this false feeling out there that top players don’t represent their nation. That’s not true,” David Haggerty said according to AFP ahead of the final.
“Some of those top players that played in the qualifier round or the second qualifier round didn’t make it to the finals. And so, we had many top players that have played.”
“And while Jannik and Carlos would be nice to have here, their teams are competing with the spirit of the strength that they provide to their teammates.”
American Taylor Fritz, Australian Alex De Minaur, Dane Holger Rune and Norwegian Casper Ruud – all in the top 20 of the men’s rankings – featured in the early rounds of the competition without managing to lead their country to finals in Bologna.
Spain’s Alcaraz pulled out injured while his Italian rival Sinner announced weeks ago that he wouldn’t participate in order to rest ahead of the 2026 season.
Italian fans were also denied the chance to see Lorenzo Musetti play for his country after the world No 8 withdrew following his elimination from the ATP Finals earlier this month.
Musetti cited his physical condition and the imminent birth of his second child as the reasons for him not taking part on home soil.
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 eventual tie-break.
Cobolli then found the crucial break 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.
Elsewhere, Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has signalled his intention to play at next year’s Australian Open by signing up for the Kooyong Classic warm-up exhibition event.
