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CHENNAI, India (AFP) – An injury to world number five Nikolay Davydenko added to the gloom at the ATP Chennai Open after bad weather washed out Wednesday's matches.

Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, seen here on January 05, 2009, said on Wednesday

Davydenko, the top seed at the 450,000-dollar season opener, withdrew from the tournament as well as the Australian Open later in the month due to a heel injury.

"I am pulling out both the Chennai Open and the Australian Open because my left heel has been very painful over the last few days," the 27-year-old Russian told reporters here.

"I will see specialists before I can say when I will return to the circuit."

The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, starts in Melbourne on January 19.

Davydenko was due to play Czech Lukas Dlouhy in the second round in Wednesday night's first match, but persistent rain wiped out the entire evening's programme.

The Russian had beaten Daniel Koellerer of Austria 6-2, 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday, but his withdrawal meant the top two seeds of the season-opening event had been eliminated.

Second-seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, ranked 16th in the world, had lost to Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla 6-4, 6-1 on Tuesday night.

World number 27 Marin Cilic of Croatia is the highest-ranked player left in the tournament.

The second round matches will now be held on Thursday.