Melbourne, Australia, 6 May 2013 | tennis.com.au

The army of Australians competing overseas at ITF events around the globe enjoyed great success last week, with four men reaching finals at the weekend.

Leading the way was James Duckworth, who captured the Futures title in Santiago, Chile.

The Sydneysider was the top seed at the tournament and didn’t disappoint, straight-setting five opponents en route to his second Futures title of 2013 after winning in Bundaberg in March.

Currently sitting at world No.218, the 21-year-old is projected to continue rising back toward his career-high ranking of No.167, set in May 2012.

Elsewhere in the world, Duckworth’s compatriots were making waves.

Andrew Whittington survived a tough second round battle at the Futures event in Heraklion, Greece and eventually progressed all the way through to the final, where it took fifth seed Dimitar Kuzmanov of Bulgaria to stop him.

Whittington, just 19 years of age, is expected to improve upon his career high ranking of No.628, achieved just over a month ago.

Across in Vero Beach in Florida, Carsten Ball was slicing his way through the draw at that claycourt Futures event, beating compatriot Ben Mitchell in the quarterfinals before ultimately falling to British No.7 seed Kyle Edmund in the final.

Ball has slipped to world No.764 after peaking at No.108 in July 2010, yet the 25-year-old appears to be on the way back.

Another young Aussie, Gavin Van Peperzeel, enjoyed a career-best result in Ashkelon, Israel.

The 21-year-old Queenslander progressed to his first ever ITF final at the Israeli hardcourt event before falling in the final to Japanese fourth seed Shuichi Sekiguchi.