APTOS – Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis joined a small group of competitors on Sunday afternoon in scoring a singles and doubles title at the 31st annual Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos.
Kokkinakis, ranked 199th in the world, earned a 6-2, 6-3 win over Lloyd Harris, of South Africa, to capture the singles championship, and then secured the doubles crown with his countryman Matt Reid in a 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 victory against Johnny O’Mara and Joe Salisbury, both of Great Britain.
Kokkinakis became just the fifth player in the tournament’s history to win both the singles and doubles titles.
Chris Guccione was the last player to accomplish the feat, doing so in 2009.
Kokkinakis earned $14,400 for his singles win, and split the $6,200 prize with Reid for the triumph in doubles.
Kokkinakis entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed after an early exit from the Los Cabos Open the week before, and he lived up to the seeding.
He scored quick wins over Max Purcell (6-2, 6-2) and Kaichi Uchida (7-5, 6-0) before edging No. 8 seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran (4-6, 6-4, 6-3) to earn a spot in the semifinals.
He upended top-seeded Thomas Fabbiano with a 7-5, 6-1 win on Saturday to advance to his first Challenger championship match of the year and second overall.
Harris, ranked 145th, arrived at the Seascape Sports Club on a hot streak, having won the Lexington Challenger a week prior with five sweeps.
He continued his winning ways in Aptos, sweeping Quentin Halys (6-4, 6-2), Joris De Loore (6-2, 6-0), Liam Borady (6-2, 6-2) and Christopher Eubanks (6-2, 6-2), but was unable to capture his fifth championship of the year — he won three titles at the ITF Futures level.
Harris won $8,480 for his runner-up finish.
