PORTLAND – As jumbled up as the seedings were in the State Singles Tournament on the girls side, the boys division stayed pretty much true to plan.

And that was perfectly fine for Ian Robinson Thursday as he became the first player from Brewer and the first from Eastern Maine to win the boys singles state title since Ryan Kelley in 1997.

The top seed made it look fairly easy as he dispatched No. 5 seed Noah John 6-1, 6-0 in a semifinal match lasting just 43 minutes and then knocked off second seed and fellow sophomore Pat Conway from Deering of Portland 6-4, 6-3 on a warm, sunny day at Waynflete School’s athletic complex courts.

“I’m used to playing a lot of three-setters, which I didn’t play any of this whole tournament. That was a surprise,” said the lithe lefthander. “I felt pretty confident all day. I knew I was playing well so it didn’t really matter to me. I faced tough guys and came out on top because I was fairly consistent.”

Yes, consistently frustrating to opponents, thanks to a wide, looping serve, patient style, and a penetrating forehand ground stroke.

It was a good day for underclassmen as No. 3 seed Kelly Graham of Kennebunk completed the sophomore sweep with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over unseeded dark horse Laura Stein, a freshman from Camden Hills High School.

“I’m still kind of shocked. It hasn’t really hit me yet,” said Graham, the only top-eight seed to survive the tournament. “This week was interesting because I had a lot of stress, not only with tennis but with homework and school. In fact, I just wasn’t thinking about the tennis because I had too much else to do. I was really nervous yesterday and I was a lot more worried about that first match. I just wanted to get it done.”

It took awhile, but she did, courtesy of a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win over second-seeded Erin Moakler from Greater Houlton Christian Academy in the semis.

The semifinals also accentuated the stark contrasts between the boys and girls tournaments as both boys semis were decided in straight sets – Conway knocked off No. 6 Dustin Freeman of York 7-5, 6-1 – while the girls matches went the distance – Stein defeated No. 4 Elizabeth Currie of Waynflete 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Robinson was simply overwhelming early on. After John broke his serve to take a 1-0 lead, Robinson won the next 12 straight games.

“Even if I could have played him slightly better, it still would have been a pretty large deficit,” John said. “I just couldn’t match his intensity or his shots, and once he went up 4-1, momentum was his and it was really just a landslide after that.”

The match took only 13 minutes longer than the warmup period.

“By the time I got on the court, it seemed like it was already over,” John said.

Just like the semis, Robinson started slow in the finals, again getting his serve broken en route to an 0-2 deficit. Robinson won the next four games before Conway staged a rally by breaking Robinson twice and swiping two straight to make it 5-4 Robinson, but Robinson broke back to win the set. The second set was a near carbon copy as Conway broke back and again went up 2-0, but Robinson won the next three. Conway broke again to tie it (3-3), but Robinson won the next three to end it.

The soft-spoken sophomore had a good explanation for his slow starts.

“The first four games are just to see who you’re dealing with and what he’s doing,” he said. “That’s what I did and then I took control after that.”

Both of Robinson’s coaches – summer/personal coach Bob Christie and Brewer coach Phil Burns – summed up his strengths.

“He’s really learned how to slice the ball beautifully, and after growing 31/2 inches and putting on a few pounds in the offseason, now his stuff’s got weight on it,” Christie said of the 5-foot-9 Robinson.

“There’s a huge difference in the way he’s hitting the ball and his general game plan now,” Burns added. “Last year, he was just keeping the ball in play and using his brain. Now he’s got more weapons and he can use his brains and power. His first serve and forehand have really improved.”

Stein finally met her match in Graham, who ironically used Stein’s style – stay back, remain patient, return everything back, and wait for either a mistake or an opportunity.

“She hit some good passing shots and lobs while I missed a lot of volleys. That gave her the opportunity to take advantage,” Stein said. “That cost me some big points where she was passing me a lot.”