NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Holder Rafa Nadal and fourth seed Andy Murray will need to be razor sharp to win their U.S. Open quarter-final matches against big-serving 2003 champion Andy Roddick and fellow American blaster John Isner on Friday.

Not only will underdogs Roddick and Isner have the crowd on their side but their serves will test all of Nadal and Murray’s high-quality returns as the Spaniard seeks to retain the trophy and the Briton tries to land his first grand slam title.

All of Roddick’s three victories against Nadal in their nine meetings have come on hard courts, including a second-round U.S. Open clash in 2004, with the Spaniard paying tribute to his last eight opponent’s longevity.

“He’s having one of the best careers, being in the top players for, I don’t know, 11 years, 10 years, nine years. That’s a lot. That’s amazing. So I have big respect for Andy,” 10-time grand slam winner Nadal told reporters on Thursday.

Roddick knows he will have to reproduce the form he showed in the last 16 on Thursday against fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer on a jam-packed outside court.

“I’m gonna have to play pretty aggressively now, similar to what I did today. He’s (Nadal’s) one of the greatest ever, so I’m gonna have to have a repeat at least,” the 21st seed said.

The towering Isner, renowned for beating Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in a fifth set epic at last year’s Wimbledon in a match that lasted over 11 hours, will need to stock up on shirts for his semi-final against the super-fit Murray.

LONDON (Reuters) – Manchester City’s latest big-money signing Samir Nasri’s mind was made up about leaving Arsenal once fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira told him his new club was the “place to be.”

“When a player like this tells you Manchester City is the place to be, because it’s the club of the future, they want to win everything and they have a big project, you have to listen,” Nasri told the City website (www.mcfc.co.uk).

The versatile 24-year-old attacking midfielder, capable of playing through the middle or down the wing, signed for City on Wednesday for a reported 25 million pounds after protracted negotiations.

Vieira, formerly of Arsenal, AC and Inter Milan, Juventus and Manchester City, who won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European championship, retired in July and now works in Manchester as the club’s football development executive.

Nasri also had advice from former Arsenal team mates Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure, both now at City.

“I spoke to them a lot, as well as Patrick Vieira,” he said. “They know the difference between Arsenal and Man City, for me that made a big difference.”

Londoners Arsenal have not won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup, and while City’s triumph in the same competition in May ended a 35-year silverware drought, the world’s richest club have not clinched a league title for 43 years.

LONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Manchester City’s latest big-money signing Samir Nasri’s mind was made up about leaving Arsenal once fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira told him his new club was the “place to be”.

“When a player like this tells you Manchester City is the place to be, because it’s the club of the future, they want to win everything and they have a big project, you have to listen,” Nasri told the City website (www.mcfc.co.uk).

The versatile 24-year-old attacking midfielder, capable of playing through the middle or down the wing, signed for City on Wednesday for a reported 25 million pounds ($41 million) after protracted negotiations.

Vieira, formerly of Arsenal, AC and Inter Milan, Juventus and Manchester City, who won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European championship, retired in July and now works in Manchester as the club’s football development executive.

Nasri also had advice from former Arsenal team mates Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure, both now at City.

“I spoke to them a lot, as well as Patrick Vieira,” he said. “They know the difference between Arsenal and Man City, for me that made a big difference.”

Londoners Arsenal have not won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup, and while City’s triumph in the same competition in May ended a 35-year silverware drought, the world’s richest club have not clinched a league title for 43 years.

LONDON (Reuters) – Mark Cavendish underlined his status as the man to beat at next year’s Olympic Games by winning the road race test event through London’s streets on Sunday, but one competitor labelled the course “dangerous.”

The tight and technical route caused several bottlenecks for the competitors and support vehicles as the 139-man field set a blistering pace to leave British spectators, unfamiliar with watching live road cycling, open-mouthed in astonishment.

Briton Cavendish, the Tour de France’s most successful sprinter, won the 140.3-km event starting and finishing near Buckingham Palace in a time of three hours 18 minutes 11 seconds.

He paid tribute to the vast crowds, who turned up despite widespread rioting in London earlier in the week.

“It was incredible, it shows how many people are into cycling in Great Britain at the moment,” the 26-year-old told reporters.

“The course was so full you couldn’t even take a wee,” he joked earlier on the podium, his model girlfriend watching on.

Sacha Modolo of Italy was second and France’s Samuel Dumoulin was third, the latter happy with his performance but not overjoyed about the narrow streets.

LONDON (Reuters) – Amateur cyclist Aemon Atkinson found himself alongside professional riders competing in the 2012 Olympic test event after his leisurely ride was suddenly transformed Sunday.

Suitably dressed but mounted on a bike that brought strange looks from some of the world’s best cyclists, Anderson and a friend were not to be deterred on the London road race route.

“We thought we were going to get arrested being on the road while the race was in progress but no one batted an eyelid,” Atkinson told Reuters as he walked his battered old steel-frame bike up some steps near the finish line.

“A few team cars went by and thought ‘What the bloody hell’s going on here?’ but everyone was cheering us which made us go on a bit more.”

Atkinson and his younger companion had already done over 70 kilometres to get to near Richmond Park, where they waited for the main peloton to go past before cycling at a safe distance behind.

They plodded along the route to Putney Bridge over the Thames, which to their surprise was still open, so they pressed on and were soon swamped by riders who had been dropped by the leading bunch.

“They came past us like a bat out of hell, so we tried to latch on for our 15 minutes of fame. The spectators urged us on.”

LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Amateur cyclist Aemon Atkinson found himself alongside professional riders competing in the 2012 Olympic test event after his leisurely ride was suddenly transformed on Sunday.

Suitably dressed but mounted on a bike that brought strange looks from some of the world’s best cyclists, Anderson and a friend were not to be deterred on the London road race route.

“We thought we were going to get arrested being on the road while the race was in progress but no one batted an eyelid,” Atkinson told Reuters as he walked his battered old steel-frame bike up some steps near the finish line.

“A few team cars went by and thought ‘What the bloody hell’s going on here?’ but everyone was cheering us which made us go on a bit more.”

Atkinson and his younger companion had already done over 70 kilometres to get to near Richmond Park, where they waited for the main peloton to go past before cycling at a safe distance behind.

They plodded along the route to Putney Bridge over the Thames, which to their surprise was still open, so they pressed on and were soon swamped by riders who had been dropped by the leading bunch.

“They came past us like a bat out of hell, so we tried to latch on for our 15 minutes of fame. The spectators urged us on.”

LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Mark Cavendish underlined his status as the man to beat at next year’s Olympic Games by winning the road race test event through London’s streets on Sunday, but one competitor labelled the course “dangerous”.

The tight and technical route caused several bottlenecks for the competitors and support vehicles as the 139-man field set a blistering pace to leave British spectators, unfamiliar with watching live road cycling, open-mouthed in astonishment.

Briton Cavendish, the Tour de France’s most successful sprinter, won the 140.3-km event starting and finishing near Buckingham Palace in a time of three hours 18 minutes 11 seconds.

He paid tribute to the vast crowds, who turned up despite widespread rioting in London earlier in the week.

“It was incredible, it shows how many people are into cycling in Great Britain at the moment,” the 26-year-old told reporters.

“The course was so full you couldn’t even take a wee,” he joked earlier on the podium, his model girlfriend watching on.

Sacha Modolo of Italy was second and France’s Samuel Dumoulin was third, the latter happy with his performance but not overjoyed about the narrow streets.

LONDON (Reuters) – Mark Cavendish underlined his status as the world’s best sprinter and man to beat at next year’s Olympic Games by winning the 2012 road race test event through London’s streets on Sunday.

The tight and technical route was narrow in places, causing bottlenecks for the competitors and support vehicles trailing behind as the 145-man field set a blistering pace.

Cavendish, top sprinter at last month’s Tour de France, won the 140.3-km event starting and finishing near Buckingham Palace in a time of three hours 18 minutes 11 seconds.

Sacha Modolo of Italy was second and France’s Samuel Dumoulin was third.

Cavendish stuck with the peloton, at one stage six minutes behind an early breakaway led by 2009 British road race champion Kristian House, before staging a customary late charge in a bunch sprint down the Mall.

Manxman Cavendish, whose name has been linked to Britain’s Team Sky after his successful HTC-Highroad announced they will fold at the end of the season, was kitted out in a blue outfit with the name of British cycling sponsors Sky emblazoned on it.

Australian Heinrich Haussler, a former Tour de France stage winner, led the peloton back to the breakaway riders as the race re-entered the city’s people-lined streets after sections in the leafy western suburbs.