Cobolli Pulls Off Incredible Tiebreaker Win, Italy advances to Third-Straight Davis Cup Final

Flavio Cobolli
(photo: Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images for ITF)

BOLOGNA/WASHINGTON, November 21, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Without World No. 2 Jannik Sinner or World No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti, the weight of Italy’s Davis Cup fortunes this week have rested on 23-year-old Flavio Cobolli. 

Like he did against Austria on Wednesday, Cobolli delivered a tie-clinching 2-0 victory against Belgium at the Davis Cup Final 8 Friday night in Bologna that gave the Italian fans who filled SuperTennis Arena plenty to be excited about. 

With Italy leading 1-0, after Matteo Berrettini defeated Raphael Collignon, 6-3, 6-4, the World No. 22 Cobolli accepted the challenge of facing No. 43 Zizou Bergs of Belgium. The two No. 1 singles players for their respective countries put on quite a show for fans of both countries. By the end, after three hours and four minutes of extraordinary play and effort, Cobolli came out on top, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (15). 

Cobolli saved seven match points during the lengthy, 32-point tiebreaker and finally put away Bergs on his own seventh match-point opportunity – the fifth one during the tie-break, which lasted more than 17 minutes.

“I think it’s really tough to say something about this match,” Cobolli said during his on-court interview. “We played for our country, we fought for this week. At the end, I realized my dream, you know. We are in the final now. I played a great match against a great opponent but I’m really happy about this. 

“I played for my team, for my family. It’s one of the best days of my life.”

At a set each, Bergs fought off a pair of match points in the 10th game and managed to take the rubber to a third-set tiebreaker against Cobolli. Soon, it was Cobolli fighting off two match points, down 6-4 and 6-5. What on earth could happen next? From 6-all, the Italian fans shouted loud and waved their Italian tri-color flags trying to will Cobolli to a big victory. However, Bergs gained a third match point at 7-6 after Cobolli muffed a third-shot return, but the 23-year-old Italian saved it with a 14th-shot overhead winner to level the tie-break at 7-all. 

Next, Bergs pushed ahead 8-7 after Cobolli swatted a long return to gain a fourth match point. Once again, Cobolli saved it to make it 8-all. Then, he served an ace to gain a match-point for Italy at 9-8 – 30 minutes after his last match point in the 10th game. But Bergs saved another match point with a forehand volley winner that capped an 11-shot rally for 9-all, and earned another match point with an overhead winner up the middle that Cobolli wasn’t tall enough to swat down. However, staying cool and calm, Cobolli saved another match point for 10-all. Then, he gained a match point for Italy at 11-10 when Bergs hit a backhand into the net. Unfortunately for Cobolli, he fisted an eighth-shot backhand into the net and immediately slammed his racquet into the ground out of frustration. It was 11-all and anyone’s guess how it might turn out. 

Soon, though, Cobolli gained an advantage at 12-11 with the match on his racquet, but Bergs rose to the occasion after hitting a cross-court forehand winner to cap a 14-shot rally to tie the score at 12-12. Each side had seen five match points come and go. 

Cobolli earned match point No. 6 at 13-12 but Bergs hit a service winner to tie the score at 13-all. Then, as the match reached the three-hour mark, Bergs gained another match point at 14-13 but squandered it with a second-shot into the net. From 14-all, Bergs gained match point No. 7 after Cobolli sent a forehand long, but the Italian reacted to a drop shot from Bergs and hit it past the 26-year-old Belgian No. 1 to erase the match point and it was 15-all. Soon, Cobolli had another match point at 16-15 and he hit a service winner to put away the victory at 17-15. 

The final set lasted 94 minutes – The tie-break was the sixth-longest tie-break in Davis Cup history.

Bergs took the defeat in stride. In his team’s post-match news conference, he said: “I don’t think it gets more emotional than this. It’s a combination of really, really enjoying being out there as well as feeling, yeah, so much love for your team and for the fans that I hear, dealing with a very difficult crowd.

“So yeah, all those combinations makes it a very emotional one. At least I’m really happy that I enjoyed myself out there.”

Cobolli played arguably the greatest match of his life – and it was celebration time for the Italians. Cobolli raised his arms in triumph and ripped the blue t-shirt off his chest like the Incredible Hulk. Then, after he received hugs from his Italian teammates, Cobolli went over to console Bergs, whose head was buried in a towel. It was evident that Bergs was letting out all his emotions – thinking to himself what might have been.

With Cobolli’s triumph, it meant that Italy has now won 13 ties in a row. They’re safely through to their third consecutive Davis Cup final on Sunday and will await the Germany-Spain winner.

“In my five years as a captain,” Italy team captain Filippo Volandri said, “I’ve never seen anything like [this tiebreaker]. This is what Davis Cup does. It was an unbelievable match. … These guys gave everything they had. I’m so proud of our guys.”

Earlier, Berrettini set the table for Italy. For the second-straight tie, the 29-year-old Roman won the lead-off rubber to put the Italians out front 1-0. This time, he disposed of the 23-year-old, 86th-ranked Collignon, 6-3, 6-4, in one hour and 29 minutes. He hit 15 winners, converted three of 10 break points and outpointed his opponent 70-57. 

The 56th-ranked Berrettini has won both of his rubbers this week in Bologna in straight sets – 10 consecutive rubbers won overall – and has played inspired tennis. In the second set against Collignon, trailing 3-2, he saved a break point to remain on serve, then broke his opponent in the next game to go ahead 4-3 and never looked back. He closed out the win on his serve at love.

“I was confident in my tennis. I was thinking if I get broken here (at 2-3), I still have the chance to win the match,” Berrettini said during his post-match news conference. “I still have to fight. It’s going to be long for me and for him. That’s the kind of mentality that I always tell myself. 

“I believe in my tennis. I believe that I was playing better than him for a long time. I just have to keep going and good things would have came eventually. Luckily they came pretty soon and I won the match.”

Davis Cup news & noteworthy

Early Friday morning, Germany pulled out a dramatic and thrilling third-set tiebreaker in doubles 12-10 to beat Argentina 2-1. The victory advanced the Germans into Saturday’s semifinal-round tie against Spain (Noon CET). The exhausting loss left the Argentine team feeling disappointed. After all, upon splitting the two singles rubbers, Argentina needed only win the doubles rubber to advance to the last four. 

Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos and Andres Molteni saw three match points disappear after saving four match points on their side of the net. However, on the fifth match point, Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany prevailed and won the match, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10), in two hours and 29 minutes, ending at 1:04 a.m.

During his team’s post-tie news conference, Argentina coach Javier Frana praised his players. He said:

“Always in a way is, of course, tough for us to end up like that when we’re so close. But anyway, I think we feel very proud of ourself. We fight until the end. Sometimes in sports you get to your side, sometimes you get to the other side. We did it everything very well before the tie. We don’t have anything to regrets about our performance. We give it all. Sport is like that. Tennis is like that.

“Sometimes just few inches you make the difference. We accept it. It hurts, of course. Our spirits, now it’s a little bit shaky, but it’s going to be very soon from tomorrow again. …

“Anyway, it was the way it was. I’m feel so proud of not only the doubles players, our team, coaches. We all together. We all pushed to the same direction.

“Of course one of the goals is always the results, to go further. Our goal was be united, Argentina tennis, push to the same side. Different way of seeing things, but we achieve a lot of things. Through all the year we wanted other things.”

By the numbers

Italy has been to four consecutive Davis Cup semifinals and, after defeating Belgium 2-0, they have reached a third-straight Davis Cup Final. They are the first nation to achieve the feat since Australia reached three consecutive finals from 1999-2001.

“Quotable …”

“I think it was a really good match from both sides. I think we both play a really good level of tennis. He serve unbelievable one set and a half. The middle of the second set I think I started reading a little bit his serve. I started putting more balls in. It was a really tough battle, for sure.

“Yeah, of course I’m a little bit mad because I lost. In the end I think, I don’t know, how you say, I gave my best. I think I play a really good tennis. On the other side of the net is a player that is No. 3 in the world. Played a really good match also. Real aggressive also from both sides, besides serving unbelievable.”

– Argentine No. 1 Francisco Cerundolo, during his post-match news conference Thursday, after losing 6-4, 7-6 (3) to World No. 3 and German No. 1 Alexander Zverev. Germany went on to win the quarterfinal tie over Argentina 2-1.

 

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