The men's final between Adam Lasky and Nick Jovanovski was in the second set when a heavy shower forced them off the court.

Tournament director Andy Reynolds said persistent rain made for an early finish.

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Matches did not return to the courts after 11.15am with a decision to cancel the remaining matches made at 1pm.

"It was certainly a surprise. There was nothing on the radar and it came in about 11.15am, was sort of drizzly, but it just didn't stop for an hour and a half," Reynolds said.

"We're always conscious players want to get away not too late. It would've put us back three hours once the courts dried and that really becomes difficult to get matches on.

"People are wanting to forfeit and withdraw so it reduces the quality of the event, so we made the call at one o'clock.

"We had just under 1200 matches to get through and we got through just under 90 per cent. We nearly got there."

Lasky claimed the first set against Jovanovski, who won Warrnambool's post-Christmas tournament, 6-4.

Reynolds said the match was declared a draw.

"Tennis regulations state that you must split the prizemoney," he said.

"The guy who won the first set was disappointed but ultimately you can't do much about the weather."

Reynolds said the popular long weekend tournament appealed to a diverse group of people.

"I know with 930 players, this event just keeps growing and growing," he said.

"If we had more courts, great. There is just no room, we're locked down here.

"The big benefit of this event is it caters for all-abilities and ages which is important. That is the beauty of the sport of tennis, you can play from young to ancient."

Reynolds, who works for Tennis Victoria, praised the Warrnambool Lawn Tennis Club's band of volunteers and committee members.

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