Elsewhere in Europe, Portugal and France overturned deficits to make it back-to-back wins to open their bids to reach next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The quality of Thomas Tuchel’s England was questioned after a laborious 2-0 win over Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday, but they produced a resounding answer.
“The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing. That’s the bar,” manager Tuchel said.
England dominated the early stages in Belgrade and took the lead in the 33rd minute when Harry Kane headed home his 74th international goal from a Declan Rice corner.
The visitors doubled their advantage two minutes later, as Noni Madueke raced onto an excellent flick-on from Morgan Rogers, kept his composure and dinked the ball beyond Serbia goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.
Seven minutes into the second half, Ezri Konsa pounced on a loose ball after a free-kick to score his first international goal.
Another Rice set-piece provided England’s fourth, as Marc Guehi slid to meet his free-kick, given for the foul on Kane by Nikola Milenkovic which earned the Nottingham Forest centre-back a straight red card.
Substitute Marcus Rashford rounded off a perfect night for his team with a late spot-kick.
England could qualify for an eighth-successive World Cup in their next Group K game when they visit Latvia next month.
The other match in the group saw Albania leapfrog Serbia into second place, edging out Latvia 1-0 in Tirana.
Meanwhile, Norway produced the perfect response to second-placed Italy’s dramatic 5-4 victory over Israel on Monday with a 11-1 thumping of Moldova to make it five wins from five in Group I.
Haaland was the star of the show, scoring a first-half hat-trick before nodding in his fourth goal not long after the restart.
Martin Odegaard grabbed a goal and two assists. Felix Myhre found the net early on after being picked out by Haaland.
Rangers midfielder Thelo Aasgaard came off the bench to add a seventh, although Moldova did grab themselves a consolation with a Leo Ostigard own goal, only for Aasgaard to score again.
Haaland stepped aside when Norway were awarded a penalty shortly afterwards, allowing the 23-year-old Aasgaard to complete an 11-minute hat-trick.
There were further goals for Haaland and Aasgaard as Moldova crumbled.
Norway, who downed four-time world champions Italy earlier in qualifying and are bidding to qualify for a first World Cup since 1998, moved six points clear of the Azzurri having played a game more. (AFP)
