Italy claimed their first Billie Jean King Cup title in 11 years as Jasmine Paolini cruised to a 2-0 win over Slovakia in Malaga.
Paolini, who is enjoying a breakthrough 2024 season, was part of the Italy team that finished runners-up to Canada 12 months ago.
The world number four won 6-2, 6-1 against Rebecca Sramkova after Lucia Bronzetti put Italy ahead with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Viktoria Hruncakova in the first singles match.
“I’ve always dreamed of this trophy,” said Bronzetti, who was playing just his second singles match in the competition.
“We are world champions, we could be much happier. This is the dream of all of us and we are very proud.”
Italy, who will get $2.4m (£1.9m) in prize money if they win their fifth title, have recently become a tennis powerhouse, with the men’s team – led by world number one Jannik Sinner – winning its first Davis Cup in 47 years in 2023.
“I think it’s been a great year for Italian tennis and very good for our sport in our country,” Paolini told reporters.
“We have a lot of tennis fans in Italy now, tennis is growing fast.”
Captain Tathiana Garbin said: “This is a dream come true. I have great champions, great players and great human beings.
“I am very proud of them. They fight every day.”
Slovakia, who brought down Great Britain on Tuesday, playing in their first final since they won the tournament in 2002.
