A semi-finalist 12 months ago, the Italian was two points away from losing the opening set, then ran away with the second to set up a clash with top seed Serena Williams or Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
Having led by an early break, the 32-year-old Pennetta rallied from 4-5, 15-30 to win the first set against the number 29 seed.
Growing in confidence, Pennetta showed deft touch with a series of drop shots and eased to victory in one hour, 20 minutes.
(Reporting by Simon Cambers, editing by Gene Cherry)
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