There is no point sugaring a lemon but Kyle Edmund should leave the 2018 Australian Open aware that a three-set defeat in his first grand slam semi-final could mark the beginning of a wonderful career.

Few outside his inner circle expected him to get out of the first week. Nobody predicted he would even get out of the first round. But he came from a set down to beat the 2017 US Open finalist Kevin Anderson in just under four hours, then dispatched the often dangerous Denis Istomin (who put Novak Djokovic out at the same stage a year ago), expended more energy accounting for Nikoloz Basilashvili in five sets than he maybe should have, and again in four to defeat Andreas Seppi, before reaching the semi-finals with a quite splendid four-set win against the world No 3, Grigor Dimitrov.

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There he faced Marin Cilic. It was a challenge of a totally different kind, against a seasoned and gifted player who already has a major to his name and who in his own quarter-final had made the most of Rafael Nadal’s late-match hip injury, when he remained more focused than he sometimes has in the past in big matches.

Eight years ago, when Cilic was as much a fledgling prospect as 23‑year‑old Edmund is now, he had respected observers reaching for superlatives as he roared through the card to the semi-finals for the first time. There he met an adversary who had already garnered the approval of his peers and the media, Andy Murray, who beat him in four sets.

No doubt the wear and tear on body and mind took its toll in that four‑set match. Like Edmund, Cilic had been made to struggle in early matches, taking five sets to get the better of a then-motivated young Bernard Tomic, four sets to get past Stan Wawrinka, before the Swiss had properly come to realise how good he was, another five sets to beat the reigning US Open champion, Juan Martín del Potro, in the fourth round, before tuning up for Murray with five sets against the ever‑obdurate Andy Roddick.

By the time he faced Scotland’s finest in the semi-final there was precious little left in the tank and Murray put him away in just over three hours, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Many of the rallies in that match were long and painful; on Thursday evening, they were short and, for Edmund, similarly tough on his weary body – as Cilic remarked immediately afterwards. “I noticed in the third game of the third set when I broke him, he let a couple of balls go,” he said. “I was seeing he was a bit restricted and I tried to move him around.

“He’s playing great tennis. But he played a couple of tough five-setters and a four-setter here, and definitely it left some scars on his body. But he has a bright future and we will see him around a lot.”

Those were generous words from one of the Tour’s friendlier players. He might not have the profile or the charisma of those who dominate the headlines but Cilic has, to a large extent, delivered on the praise heaped on him in Melbourne in 2010 by the late Bud Collins, who reckoned he had the potential to be one of the game’s outstanding champions.

It has not quite worked out like that but the Croatian has the power to destroy any opponent on his day. He did not rise to where he is in the rankings by accident. On Monday, regardless of the weekend’s results, he will sit at No 3, just behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – not bad company to be keeping.

For Edmund, this tournament has provided such a rush of encouragement that the disappointment will pass soon enough. He has been a realist all his short career and has by his side, in Fredrik Rosengren, one of the most astute and empathetic coaches in the sport.

Fidde, as he is known, said before this match that Edmund’s strengths are not restricted to his powerful right arm and imposing serve – neither of which clicked properly against Cilic – but in his willingness to learn, which takes humility.

“The most important thing he shows me is that he listens,” Rosengren said. “The worst thing for a coach is if you tell someone to prepare, and you stay in the corner and he says yes, but doesn’t do it. You want to see the changes.”

Those changes have been manifest in every game, not so much in dramatic differences of style, but in the growing accumulation of knowledge and self-belief. Edmund has always thought deeply about his game but often has relied on his muscular ground strokes to dominate. He has likely learned more in six matches here about when to pull the trigger than in the previous couple of seasons.

Rosengren, who spent most of the match in the player’s box, standing as if his feet were on fire, is a passionate counterpoint to his quiet and respectful charge. It has the potential to be a long and fruitful partnership – which is increasingly rare in tennis.

After the finest of Edmund’s five wins – against Dimitrov in the quarter-finals – the grey-haired coach remarked: “I am the happiest guy because I am thinking about the future, not only this match. So my book when I am sitting there, is only for the future, not for this match.”