Serbia defeated Ukraine in their Men's World Championship opener today ©Getty Images

Serbia won in straight games to start the Volleyball Men's World Championship with a victory in Katowice against Ukraine, as they aim for silverware at the competition for the first time.

The nation made the semi-finals for the second time in 2018 and finished fourth, losing the bronze-medal match to the United States.

They defeated Italy in 2010 for their only world medal, when they took bronze.

Today their campaign started promisingly, beating Ukraine 28-26, 25-21, 25-20.

Uros Kovacevic and Marko Ivovic scored 11 points each, while Marko Podrascanin had a total of 10.

Captain Oleh Plotnytskyi was the top scorer with 17 for Ukraine, but could not help his team to victory.

Tunisia also won at Spodek in straight games in Pool A, beating Puerto Rico 25-19, 25-17, 25-20.

Hamza Nagga scored 15 points to top the Tunisian statistics.

Iran came through a tough five-game battle against Argentina with a win ©Getty Images
Iran came through a tough five-game battle against Argentina with a win ©Getty Images

Iran came through a mammoth match in Pool F, to beat Argentina 22-25, 30-28, 25-18, 32-34, 21-19.

Their captain Ghara Ebadipour scored 21 points, with Morteza Sharifi and Amin Esmaeilnezhad backing up their team on their way to victory.

Facundo Conte was Argentina's top scorer with 20.

In the other Pool F match, The Netherlands recorded a one-sided victory over Egypt by a score of 25-17, 25-22, 25-16.

Italy defeated Canada in the late match in Pool E, culminating with a huge last game.

Daniele Lavia led the scoring with 18 points for Italy, who won the contest 25-13, 25-18, 39-37.

Turkey defeated China in the other match 25-15, 25-19, 25-14.