US Open: Angelique Kerber, Madison Keys and Caroline Wozniacki all book a spot in the fourth round

The round-up from the women’s Friday singles round three results

The second-seeded German took 55 minutes to close out the Day Five program at Flushing Meadows (Getty)

Angelique Kerber, enjoying a breakout season that has her challenging for world number one, crushed 17-year-old American qualifier CiCi Bellis 6-1 6-1 to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Friday.

Bellis, the second youngest player in the women's field, won three qualifying matches and beat two players within the top 65 in the main draw but her dream run ended in a flood of Kerber winners and a rash of errors from the over-hitting teenager.

The second-seeded German took 55 minutes to close out the Day Five program at Flushing Meadows, nearly doubling the 33 points won by Bellis as she notched her WTA Tour-leading 50th match win of the season.

"Congrats to CiCi. She played a great tournament and for sure she will have a great future," the gracious Kerber said in an on-court interview at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Next up for Kerber is Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, a 6-3 6-4 winner over 22nd seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Kerber and Kvitova have split their eight career meetings.

Elsewhere, American Madison Keys left Naomi Osaka in tears after coming from behind to beat the 18-year-old and book her place in the US Open fourth round.

Osaka led 5-1 in the final set in Arthur Ashe Stadium but the 18-year-old crumbled under the pressure as Keys roared back to win the match 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7/3).

Keys described it as the best comeback of her career and the eighth seed goes through to meet Caroline Wozniacki in the last 16.

The pair have never met before at Tour level but Wozniacki has found form in New York, reaching the last 16 of a grand slam for only the second time since the start of 2015.

The Dane, a finalist here in 2009 and 2014, eased past Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-1.


 Madison Keys celebrates 
 (Getty)

"I have known Caroline for a while," Keys said. "She's done well here. She's going to be tough.

"I think she's playing well right now. It's always interesting once you get to the fourth round because everyone has won matches and they're feeling very confident."

Injuries and inconsistency have seen Wozniacki drop to 74th in the world rankings but the 26-year-old believes her time on the sidelines could also pay dividends at this stage in the year.

"I think I'm definitely more fresh than the other players probably at this point," Wozniacki said.

"I'm feeling good. I just want to take advantage of that and just play, have fun with it, and enjoy the rest of the year.

"No matter what happens, at this point I'm just going to take it as momentum going into next year."

Caroline Wozniacki (Getty)

Elsewhere, last year's runner-up Roberta Vinci also made it through to the fourth round, along with Britain's Johanna Konta and 14th seed Petra Kvitova.

The British number one was “overwhelmingly happy” to progress to the fourth round and will now face Anastasija Sevastova, the Latvian who knocked out third seed Garbine Muguruza in round two.

Friday’s women’s singles round three results:

2-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Catherine Bellis (U.S.) 6-1 6-1

14-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat 22-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 6-3 6-4

8-Madison Keys (U.S.) beat Naomi Osaka (Japan) 7-5 4-6 7-6(3)

13-Johanna Konta (Britain) beat 24-Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 6-2 6-1

Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) beat 12-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 3-6 6-3 6-4

7-Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Carina Witthoeft (Germany) 6-0 5-7 6-3

Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-3 6-1

Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) beat Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-4 6-1

PA.