15-year-old wins men's open division of Ann Arbor City Tennis Tournament

• Photo Gallery: Images from the 2013 Ann Arbor City Tennis Tournament

Huateng Holcombe sat on the hill overlooking the courts at the University of Michigan Varsity Tennis Center on Sunday. Huateng’s husband, Sven, was playing for his fourth men’s singles open championship at the Ann Arbor City Tennis Tournament, so she came out to watch.

Heidi Kerst sat in the stands in support of Holcombe’s opponent, her 15-year-old son, Jason. It didn’t matter if Heidi wanted to be there or not.

She had to be. Heidi was Jason’s ride.

Kerst may have needed a ride to and from the court on Sunday, but he certainly didn’t need any assistance on it, as he defeated Holcombe in three sets (6-3, 4-6, 6-3). Kerst pumped his fists and grinned with a mouth full of braces after Holcombe double-faulted on the final point.

“It’s just a great feeling. I worked so hard this last year because this tournament means a lot to me and I didn’t do quite as well last year, so this is a nice result,” said Kerst.

Kerst will be a sophomore at Skyline High School in the fall, where he was the varsity boys team’s No. 1 singles player last year as a freshman. Sunday wasn’t his first success at the Ann Arbor City Tournament, as he won the 18-and-under division when he was 13.

Per an Ann Arbor Area Community Tennis Association regulation, players under the age of 19 are only allowed to play in open division of the tournament, making the division an interesting mix of crafty, older players and young up-and-comers. Experience most often wins the day, but Kerst was able to buck the trend on Sunday.

Tournament officials couldn’t remember the last time a junior-aged player won the tournament and the tournament’s archives don’t indicate the age of players.

“He’s just getting a bit more consistent,” said Holcombe, 31, who beat Kerst in three sets last year in the round of 16. “This year he was just that extra few percentage points stronger and more consistent and I couldn’t match that.”

Kerst’s coach, former Big Ten singles champion Peter Pusztai, said when playing an experienced player like Holcombe, the biggest challenge is being able to handle the variety of shots they can play. But Kerst handled the variety just fine on Sunday.

“I’m fairly familiar with his game,” Kerst said. “He beat me 6-4 in the third set (last year), so winning this year in a third set and in a final is pretty great.”

• Full tournament results

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.