The World No 11 Srikanth will take on China's Lu Guang Zu in the next round.
This year's Australian Open will be allowed to admit up to 30,000 fans a day, around 50% of usual capacity, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rediff reader Sugandha from Austin, Texas shares her story.
Audacious coups by Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have transformed the tennis landscape and they will begin 2017 eyeing the kind of domination that few would have thought possible at the start of a seismic year.