Australian Open 2018: Kyle Edmund not thinking about winning first Grand Slam as he prepares for Marin Cilic

Edmund will face Marin Cilic where victory will see him become British No 1

Edmund beat No 3 seed Dimitrov in straight sets (Getty)

Kyle Edmund is not thinking about the possibility of winning the Australian Open but the 23-year-old Briton will go into his semi-final against Marin Cilic here on Thursday with only positive thoughts in his head.

“I believe I can win that match, like I did today and like before every other match,” Edmund said after beating the world No 3, Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to claim the biggest victory of his life. “I’ve gone in there [today] knowing where my game is at, knowing what I want to do on court, not taking anything for granted.”

He added: “I knew I was in a good place. There's no reason why my tennis wasn’t good enough to win. It's obviously about going out there and doing it.

“I am loving it right now, just the way I'm playing. I'm 23 years old, in my first Grand Slam semi-final, having just played on one of the biggest courts in the world and beaten a player of the quality of Grigor. They're great feelings.”

Edmund said he had always believed in the destructive power of his forehand, which was a big factor in his victory.

“I know I have a big shot in that,” Edmund said. “I know my game. It's nothing new to me, so I know what I need to do out there: go out there and work out ways to get my forehand, work out ways best how to use it. As I get older, wiser, more experienced, I'm learning how to use it more effectively.”

The Briton said he had been able to deal with his pre-match nerves. “It’s totally normal to feel nervous,” he said. “As an emotion, as a human being, it's normal.

“I just accepted that and just had things in place to basically deal with it. It's not like I walked on court being nervous for the first time in my life. You still go out there and play your game. Today I just did really well at that. I was aware of the occasion, but really just tried to focus on my tennis and enjoy it as much as possible.”

Dimitrov admitted that he had felt a little tired mentally, especially after his resounding victory over Nick Kyrgios on Sunday night, but insisted: “Kyle deserves all the respect. He deserved to win, simple as that. He’s been working so hard the past months. I've seen that.”

The Bulgarian also admitted that he had been concerned about his serve since the very first day of the new season. “I haven’t served well enough,” he said. “That’s definitely one of the things I've struggled a lot with in the past week.”

Edmund stunned Dimitrov in the last eight (Getty)

Edmund thought the match had been similar to their recent meeting in Brisbane, where Dimitrov won the deciding set, but added: “Maybe just in the key moments I stepped up well and was brave, really went for my shots, and they came good. I believed that I could pull off some good stuff.

Mats Wilander, three times a champion here in the 1980s, was hugely impressed by Edmund’s performance. “He basically didn’t falter at all at any time,” the Swede said. “I think that when he dropped his serve at 3-2 in the fourth set there was maybe a hint of hesitation or doubt, but not really, because it’s going to happen at some point that you drop your serve. The fact that it happened in the middle of the set rather than at the end is great.

“Tactically he played correctly. He went after the weakness of his opponent, which is the second serve. He came to the net when his opponent was defending, which Grigor does so well. He took that strength away from Grigor as well.

“Obviously Grigor is not playing the best tennis of his career. He’s fighting hard, but it’s not working. But part of being No 3 in the world is just keeping fighting, and that seems to be his strength. Kyle’s strength is ball-striking and being really cool under pressure.”

It was the first time Edmund has won five games in a row (Getty)

Asked about becoming only the sixth British man in the open era to reach a Grand Slam singles semi-final, Edmund said: “It’s obviously great. You don’t really think of those things when you’re playing. You’re playing tennis, trying to do your best. But for sure, thinking about it, it’s something you’re going to be proud of at some point.

“Of course as a kid you’re just growing up looking up to idols, guys you aspire to be, and when you’re on these type of stages, reaching the last stages of the best tournaments in the world, it’s obviously very pleasing. But of course I want to keep going.”

Edmund said that the interest in him from British media had made him realise “what it feels like to be Andy Murray for the last eight years, or however long it is”.

He explained: “Of course it comes with the territory of playing pressure sport. The better you do, the more attention you get. It’s probably the first time I’ve done well on my own, so there’s more attention there, but you just take it in your stride, you try to embrace it as much as possible. But it’s a good problem to have when you’re winning and getting all that attention. I guess the more I keep winning the better.”

Edmund said his ambitions had originally centred on just playing at Grand Slam tournaments but they had changed subsequently. “A dream was to play for my country,” he said. “I've done that. But of course the big one is to be in Grand Slam finals. And obviously a dream is to win them.”