Andy Murray, the former world number 1, has called to a halt to what has been an emotional few days by withdrawing from the rest of this week's tournament in Washington.

The Brit was due to play young Aussie Alex De Minaur in a quarter-final on Friday but Murray decided against competing due to exhaustion.

The former Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic champion is on the comeback trail after a serious hip injury forced him off the tour for almost a year.  He made a tentative return to the circuit on the grass at Queens and Eastbourne before deciding he was not quite ready to compete at Wimbledon. 

The DC Open in Washington has seen Murray shown glimpses of his old self so far this week. A notable win over Kyle Edmund was followed by a gruelling victory over Romanian Marius Copil in a thrilling third set tie-break.

The match eventually finished at 3am on Friday morning and Murray shed tears into a towel for several minutes courtside as the emotion of the moment overcame him.

It has been a tortuous year for the 31-year-old, watching helplessly from the treatment table as he plummeted down the rankings while his hip condition worsened to the extent that surgery was required in January.

Many doubted that we would ever see the fiery Scot competing on the tour again but he has proved to the tennis world and more importantly to himself that his body is once again ready to withstand the rigours of professional tennis.

All tennis fans rejoiced at his pain-free movement and fitness levels shown to win three such draining matches.

The extraordinarily late finish to his match with Copil gave him little time to recover for his quarter-final and in the aftermath he voiced his annoyance at the scheduling, hinting that he may withdraw to preserve his exhausted body.

A threat he duly carried out as he failed to recover in time to take on De Minaur.

He released a statement to explain his decision to withdraw from the tournament in Washington and next week's Rogers Cup for which he had received a wildcard entry for.

"I won't be able to play my match tonight. I'm exhausted after playing so much over the last four days, having not competed on the hard courts for 18 months," he wrote.

"I also need to be careful and listen to my body as I come back from a long-term injury. I'm gutted not to be playing and I'd like to thank the tournament and all the fans.

"There are lots of positives to take from this week, so I'll take some time to rest and recover ( I won't play in Toronto next week ) and then head to Cincinnati early to prepare and get ready."