Top seed Lindsay Davenport had little difficulty advancing to the semi-finals at the Cincinnati Open on Friday, downing seventh-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2 to register her 16th straight victory.

A three-time winner this season, the fourth-ranked American appears to be hitting top form ahead of next month's U.S. Open and took just 45 minutes to dismantle Pennetta and improve her match record to 47-6 this year.

Davenport, who won a gold medal at the Atlanta Games in 1996, decided not to participate in the Athens Olympics to prepare her game for the final grand slam of the season.

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Fourth-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli stands between Davenport and a place in the final after she eased to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over unseeded American Laura Granville.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia also advanced to the semi-finals with a routine 6-2, 6-2 win over Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai.