Murray picked up the wrist injury during the US hard-court season

British number one Andy Murray has pulled out of next week's Japan Open in Tokyo with an ongoing wrist injury.

The 22-year-old had hoped to return for the event after scans revealed "no long-term damage" to his left wrist.

But Murray, who has been plagued by the problem over the last six weeks, is focussed on playing at the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals in London.

"There's a big tournament in London at the end of the year and I want to make sure I'm fit for that," he said.

A statement on Murray's website on Thursday said: "Andy is disappointed not to be competing in Japan, but on the basis of medical advice, he has decided to give his left wrist further time to recover.

"His injury is improving on a daily basis and Andy is very close to resuming full-training. The wrist will be assessed again this weekend."

Murray aggravated his injury by playing three matches in three days in GB's Davis Cup loss to Poland last month, and the world number three is keen to feature in November's prestigious ATP season finale at the O2 Arena.

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Defending champion Novak Djokovic, world numbers one and two Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro have also already qualified for the elite eight-man tournament.

January's Australian Open is also figuring in the Scot's thinking.

Speaking after the Davis Cup defeat 10 days ago, he said: "The pain's bearable but I need to decide what to do next.

"It's such a short turnaround at the end of the year, and the preparations for Australia have to be very good because of the conditions so I need to decide when I can fit in a long break.

"Whether that's 14 days or longer, you just have to be careful with wrists and not keep playing when there's something wrong because the problem doesn't go away."

Murray has consulted the same specialist who looked after him when he hurt his right wrist two years ago and was out of action for three months.

"That was a bit of a freak thing," he said. "It came out of nowhere and that was agony. I couldn't even hold a racquet never mind play a match.

"This one feels more like tendinitis, where it's sore and it can get better and worse."

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