As it happened: Srikanth Kidambi vs Sergey Sirant, 21-13, 21-12

And with that, we wrap up our liveblog.

Here's hoping for more such performances from Team India.

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for all the latest updates from the World Championships.

Goodbye!

There was no stutter or stumble from the India No.1. It was the best possible start he could ask for! And the signs are bright for the rest of his campaign.

The eighth seed next faces the World No. 63 Lucas Corvee of France for a place in the pre-quarter-finals.

This is Srikanth's 11th consecutive win after his earlier title wins at the Indonesia Open and the Australia Open.

Great start for Team India's singles campaign!!

And it's over! Sri gets it, 21-13, 21-12

Eight match points for Sri!

And Sirant gets another point...12-19

A rare crosscourt forehand miss from Sri

Sirant fumbles at the net...it is 19-10 to Sri

And 18-9 it is

16-9 for Sri....effortless so far

Remember Sirant did win the Russian Open last month but Srikanth has been a different kind of a test altogether

14-8 it is for the Indian

Currently, there is no department where he is lagging behind.

Sri's defence is top-notch. He is ahead 13-6

Sirant gets a couple of points but that is not good enough to stall the Srikanth juggernaut. The Indian is ahead 11-5 at the interval.

Sirant is currently clueless about how to tackle Srikanth. The Indian has a big 9-3 lead

One-way traffic again...7-2 for the Indian

And he builds on it...5-2

Sri has been effective in extracting errors from Sirant....Sri leads 4-2

All level so far...2-2

SECOND GAME

Sri has hardly been tested so far. Can Sirant come up with something special?

And Srikanth has it in the bag....21-13

Sirant saves one

EIGHT GAME POINTS for the Indian...20-12

Sirant makes a challenge but he is unsuccessful. That only bolsters Sri further. The Indian is now up 19-12

Sirant tries to make a last effort to come back into this game...12-17

So far, no hiccup for the eighth seed.

SIX-POINT LEAD for the India No. 1

Sri has increased his lead to 15-9 now

The southpaw Sirant seems to have rolled his foot but nothing serious there!

It is 14-7 for the India No. 1

The battle is mostly on the forecourt now....Sri leads 12-7

And Sri leads 11-6 at the interval

And the Indian quickly makes amends to jump to 10-6

But the Russian manages to get a couple of points to close the gap to 6-8...Sri cannot afford to slip here

Sri is looking confident and determined. It is reflected in his performance so far...8-5

Beautiful touches at the net from the India no. 1..8-3

Sri has jumped to 7-2

The Russian finally gets another point...2-6

Sri looking very sharp...6-1

Smooth sailing so far...Sri is up 5-1

Sri inches ahead to 3-1 and quickly makes it 4-1

Srikanth has taken a mini 2-1 lead

We are under way!

1-1 to begin with

The preceding match has just finished and Srikanth will be on the court soon.

We are now just a few minutes away from the India No. 1 Srikanth Kidambi's first round. It is scheduled to begin in about another 10-12 minutes. Stay tuned.

ICYMI: India's doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy entered Round 2 earlier after being given a walkover.

More details here!

The 2017 BWF Championships has begun. There's still some time to go for India's first match.