Michigan high school boys tennis: Cranbrook's Owen DeMuth finally breaks through

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood's Owen DeMuth, a runner up each of the last two years, finally broke through with a state championship in No. 1 singles in the Division 3 finals on Saturday.

He defeated Ann Arbor Greenhills' Chakor Rajendra, 6-1, 6-4, after falling to Greenhills' Mert Oral in 2020 and 2021.

But it was a good day for Greenhills, which edged Cranbrook, 35-33, for the program's second state title (the first since 2019).

In the other Division 3 finals in Mason, Haslett and East Lansing, Cranbrook's Andrew Fink and Jace Bernard defeated Greenhills' Mustafa Zirapury and Alex Ye in No. 1 doubles. But Greenhills' Ismael Metwally and Lucas Nor beat Cranbrook's Aryan Tiwari and Evan Foltyn in No. 2 doubles, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (2).

Greenhills also won No. 3 doubles, as Arjun Prabhakar and Dylan Carvette beat Eli Foltyn and Ketan Swami, and No. 4 doubles, as Charles Branch and Ajay Purohit beat Cranbrook's Kevin Guo and Eric Wang, both in straight sets.

In No. 2 singles, Greenhills' Rishi Verma beat St. Clair's Ian Pinnoo in straight sets. Birmingham Detroit Country Day's Clay Hartje topped Greenhills' Kabir Rajendra, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, in No. 3 and Cranbrook's Amaan Khan won No. 4 singles with a win over Chelsea's Julien Korner, 6-2, 6-2, in the final.

Division 1

Bloomfield Hills won its fourth state title, and first since 2018, by scoring 35 points in the state finals in Holland, 10 better than Northville. That effort was boosted by Bloomfield Hills' Pierce Shaya and Merrick Chernett, who won the No. 1 doubles crown.

But Northville's Sachiv Kumar defeated Rochester's Clayton Anderson, 7-6, 4-6, 6-1, for the No. 1 singles title.

In No. 2 singles, Bloomfield Hills' Daniel Stojnov topped Birmingham Brother Rice's Patrick Cretu, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Novi Detroit Catholic Central's Alec Maynard beat Bloomfield Hills' Aaron Rose in No. 3 singles and Bloomfield Hills' Connor Shaya beat Troy's Dhruv Gupta, both in straight sets.

Bloomfield Hills' Michael Dillon and Ryan Rose beat Troy's Derrick Kim and Nish Palepu in three sets to claim No. 2 doubles. Ann Arbor Huron's Warren Gunnar and Hassan Hejazi won the No. 3 state title with a straight-sets win over Bloomfield Hills' Drew Davis and Toni Vasile. But BH's Kierth Lingam and Dominic Pascarella topped Northville's Varun Varre and Brian Zhang in No. 4.

Division 2

Midland Dow defending home turf by winning the state championship in Midland, the seventh in school history but first since 2016. Birmingham Seaholm finished second, followed by a tie between Mattawan and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.

Dow's Aaron Li (No. 2 singles) and Nimai Patel (No. 4 singles) beat Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern's Karan Deol and Sebastian Madlangbayan, respectively. Grosse Pointe North's Connor Stafford won No. 1 singles by defeating GR Forest Hills Central's Sammy Yin, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Mattawan's Nolan Ackerman took No. 3 singles.

Seaholm's Alex Lewis and Zane Chutkow swept Birmingham Groves' Dylan Wolf and Jake Rosenwasser in No. 1 doubles. The other champs: Dow's Roofy Elsaadany and Aiden Tanis (No. 2); Forest Hills Northern's Kyle Cornell and Tanay Shenoy (No. 3) and Seaholm's Ricky Sparby and Nick Kelley.

Division 4

Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett edged Hudsonville Unity Christian, 30-27, for Liggett's seventh state championship and second in three years in Kalamazoo.

Grand Rapids West Catholic's Simon Caldwell won No. 1 singles in straight sets over Liggett's Sebastian Courtright, 6-3, 6-0. Traverse City St. Francis' Owen Jackson, who won No. 3 singles last year, is the No. 2 singles champion. Unity Christian's Michael Riddering won No. 3 singles and Liggett's Charlie Cooksey came back to win No. 4 singles over Allegan's Jackson Morrie, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The doubles champions: Liggett's Campbell Marchal and Tommy Ugval (No. 1), Steve Wheatley and Griffin Marchal (No. 3); Unity Christian's Andrew Miller and Dominic Hop (No. 2) and Big Rapids' Elijah Haynes and Ari Ziska (No. 4).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA boys tennis state finals: Cranbrook star finally breaks through