Hyeon Chung, once regarded as one of the rising stars of men’s professional tennis before persistent back injuries derailed his career, could finally enjoy a moment to savour on the tennis court again this weekend.

The 28-year-old, best-known for defeating Novak Djokovic in straights en route to reaching the 2018 Australian Open semi-finals, won his first title in over five years on the ITF World Tennis Tour at M25 Bali on Sunday.

It marked a rare high point after years of toil with injuries, rehab and attempted comebacks that were so often derailed by recurring pain.

Chung defeated Britain’s Giles Hussey 6-1 6-2 in the final at the Indonesian tournament during a week in which he won back-to-back matches for only the second time since October 2019, when he overcame both Lorenzon Sonego and Marin Cilic at the ATP event in Tokyo.

Chung has played just 20 tournaments in the five and a half years since then, suffering opening round defeats in 14 of those events and dropping outside the world’s top 1000.

As well as reaching the last four at the Australian Open – in a run that saw him beat Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Djokovic in consecutive matches – he also reached the third round at both Roland Garros in 2017 and the US Open in 2019.

Britain’s Alastair Gray was the other winner on the men’s ITF World Tennis Tour this week, claiming his first title since December 2023 – and seventh ITF men’s singles crown overall – after opponent Samir Banerjee retired from the final while trailing 6-3 1-1.