Top seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy eased through to the semi-finals of the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo on Friday with a straight-sets victory over Georgia's Margalita Chaknashvili.

Pennetta, the world number 21, has already triumphed in Acapulco and Vina del Mar this year, taking her career tour singles titles to six, and dropped just two games in a 6-1 6-1 triumph.

She will meet compatriot Sara Errani in the last four.

Errani, ranked 60th and seeking her first career win, progressed after Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro retired with a finger injury while trailing 4-1 in the opening set.

Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues will meet Ukraine's Mariya Koryttseva in Saturday's second semi-final.

Garrigues ended hopes of an all-Italian final with a 6-0 3-6 6-0 victory over Tathiana Garbin, while Koryttseva beat Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.