India shuttler Saina Nehwal beat Rachael Darragh of Ireland 21-9, 21-5 on Wednesday to advance into the second round of Orleans Masters.

It was a welcome return for the Indian shuttler who missed out on the All England Championship with a thigh niggle. The ranking points gained from the victory will strengthen Saina's Tokyo Olympics chances later this year.

The former World No. 1 shuttler dominated with cross-court shots and superfast forehands to keep Darragh on her toes.

Darragh put up a brave front towards the end of the second game with a long rally but Saina's mastery was too powerful to handle.

Saina will now face the winner between Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova and local player Marie Batomene in the women’s singles Round of 16.

In other results, top seed Kidambi Srikanth entered the third round with a 21-15, 21-10 win over compatriot Ajay Jayaram 21-15, 21-10 in 25 minutes. He had received a bye in the first round.

Ajay Jayaram prevailed 19-21, 23-21, 21-16 over fellow Indian Alap Mishra. The Mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy beat Austria's Dominik Stipsits and Serena Au Yeong 21-7, 21-18.

The Indian duo will meet Denmark's Niclas Nohr and Amalie Magelund next.

Ira Sharma, who was promoted to the main draw from the women's singles qualification, saw off France's Leonice Huet 12-21, 21-14, 21-17 and will square off against Bulgaria's Mariya Mitsova.

On Tuesday, India's Kiran George had stunned Netherland's Mark Caljouw, who had reached the semifinals of All England Championships last week, 13-21, 21-18, 22-20 in a thrilling opening round match.

Mithun Manjunath beat France's Lucas Claerbout 21-14 21-10 but Subhankar Dey lost 17-21 13-21 to Denmark's Ditlev Jaeger Holm in the opening round.

(With Inputs from PTI).