Melbourne VIC, Australia, 13 August 2018 | AAP/tennis.com.au

Thanasi Kokkinakis has won the ATP Challenger Tour title in Aptos and will return to the world’s top 200.

The Australian fourth seed was too good for South African Lloyd Harris in California, cruising to a 6-2 6-3 victory for his third career pro title.

His last professional singles title of any kind came at the ATP Challenger tournament in Bordeaux more than three years ago.

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It was an extra special week in California for the 22-year-old, who combined with fellow Aussie Matt Reid to win the doubles crown.

Kokkinakis and Reid beat British pairing Jonny O’Mara and Joe Salisbury 6-2 4-6 [10-8] in a closely-fought final on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Kokkinakis defeated fellow countryman Max Purcell in the opening round before victories over Japan’s Kaichi Uchida, Indian eighth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Italian top seed Thomas Fabbiano in the semifinals.

He is projected to move up 74 places to No.194 when the ATP rankings are released on Monday.

After losing in the first round of the recent ATP Los Cabos tournament in Mexico, Kokkinakis plummeted more than 100 places last Monday to fall outside the top 250, having failed to defend the ranking points he’d earned in a run to the final 12 months earlier.

The Aptos Challenger title was a timely boost to get his ranking going in the right direction again.

He is next scheduled to play at this week’s Vancouver Challenger in Canada where he is one of five Australians in the main draw.

Kokkinakis lines up against compatriot and second seed Jordan Thompson in the first round, while Jason Kubler (seeded fourth), Alex Bolt and Marc Polmans are also among the 32-player field.