 Welcome back to Tennis Talk, my name's Cam Williams and we have a WTA 500 event this week in Chicago, the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic And it's a brand new event on the WTA calendar this year and it's worth a lot of points It's a big name to actually playing but a lot of names are pulled out of this one So let's go to the withdrawal list So we have a lot of withdrawals from this tournament, Kastea, she's pulled out, Goff, Kazakina, Kennan, Konta, Kviteva, Martich, OstaPenko, Pushkiv is pulled out of this one as well, Risk, Savalenka, the world number two, she's also out, Sakari and Vesnina is also out of this one, so a long, long list of withdrawals Starting at the top of the draw now and we have 16 seeds in this one with the top eight seeds getting a buy in the first round Svetolina, she is the top seed in this one and she gets a buy in the first round She awaits the winner of Anissa Mova and Golovic who are going at it in the first round Then we've got a battle of the Ukrainians with the qualifier Kozlova versus Kostchak in the first round Winner of that match will take on either Ruz or the number 15 seed Georgie in the second round Then we've got the number nine seed Pagola taking on the qualifier Frech Winner of that match takes on either Petkovich or the lucky loser Govetsova who are going at it in the first round Then we've got the wild card Kim Kleist that she is back in action the first time in a year And her third comeback as well, so Kim Kleist is back in action And she takes on a fellow veteran in Shea in the first round, very tough first round there for Kim Winner of that match takes on the number six seed Jabor in the second round The place to watch out for, got to watch out for the number one seed Svetolina Starting to come good in the second half of the year, made the bronze medal match and won the bronze medal at the Olympics And also just made the quarter finals of the US Open, so she's starting to get into a little bit of form Also keeping eye on Jabor as well who's having a really good year Korea best season for her and you've got to keep an eye on Kim Kleist's And really fun match against Shea in the first round So let's see if Kleist's can turn back the clock in Chicago Going to the second quarter of the draw now, I've got Bencich Number three seed, she gets a five in the first round She'll take on the winner of either the qualifier English or the wild card Dolhide Who are going out in the first round Then we've got Serrano vs Martin Kovar Winner of that match takes on either Stevens or the number 13 seed Zedanshek in the second round Then we've got the number 12 seed Kudamatova taking on the qualifier Kalinskaya Battle of the Russians in that first round Winner of that match takes on either Davis or the qualifier from Brazil Maia in the second round Then we've got Sarsenovic vs Keyes Winner of that match takes on the number five seed Rabakina in the second round So players to watch out for definitely got to watch out for the two big seeds Bencich, the gold medalist of the Olympics Also made the quarter finals of the US Open So she's in a little bit of form coming into the second half of the season And Rabakina as well having a great year in 2021 So got to keep an eye on both of them And also got to keep an eye on Stevens I know that she hasn't had the greatest of seasons over the last couple of years But she is a former champion of the US Open and is playing in America So got to keep an eye on Stevens She might be able to get some form and she can get through that first round against Zedanshek Maybe she can make a run into the second part of the tournament Going to the third section of the draw, the top half of the bottom half of the draw We've got Mertens, the number seven seed she gets to buy in the first round She awaits the winner of Kornay vs Jastramska Who are going at it in the first round Then we've got Buskova vs Doi Winner of that match takes on either the qualifier Flipkins Or the number 10 seed Collins in the second round Then we've got the number 16 seed Taikman taking on Kineppi Winner of that match takes on either the wildcard Bandaway or Lynette in the second round Then we've got Tom Mianovich vs Von Drusseva Winner of that match takes on the number four seed Pavlochenkova in the second round So this part of the draw is kind of wide open for me It could be anybody who gets out of this part of the draw But we're going to keep an eye on the big two seeds Obviously the French Open finalist from this year Pavlochenkova The number four seed and Mertens the number seven seed It's not too bad on the hard court She's had mixed results throughout the season But she doesn't mind playing on the hard courts And also got to keep an eye on Taikman She had a great season just before the US Open Didn't really do amazing at the US Open itself But she was really playing into some form Just before the US Open and the big tournaments there So watch out for Taikman This is a tournament that maybe she can make a run Especially in this part of the draw where anybody Is going to get through Going to the bottom section of the draw now This is probably the most stacked part of the draw For talking about names Andrescu She gets a buy in the first round She comes in as the number eight seed in this one She'll await the winner of the qualifier Cabrera Or Rodgers who are playing in the first round Then we've got another qualifier On Tama versus Garcia in the first round Winner of that match will take on either Bregel or the number eleven seed Contivate in the second round Then we've got the number fourteen seed Azarenka taking on Zheng Winner of that match takes on either the Wildcard Baptist Or Polini in the second round Then we've got Vekic versus Lee Winner of that match takes on Muga Ruther The number two seed in the second round This is a stacked part of the draw As opposed to the last section of the draw Which was wide open This one has some really big names involved Obviously we've got three Grand Slam champions In this part of the draw as well You've got Andrescu watching out for her this week Hasn't had a great 2021 in her comeback season Mixed results She's had some good results at a couple of the American events Like Miami at the start of the year But it's falling down the rankings After losing all the points from the US Open two years ago Also Muga Ruther She's trying to play for that final spot At the WTA finals in a couple of months time So she's got a lot to play for And comes in as the number second seed And I'm keeping an eye on Consibate this week Because she actually won a big title last week A WTA 500 event in Astrava So let's see if she can back it up After winning the biggest title of her life And coming into a very stacked part of the draw So there it is The Chicago tournament The first time we're getting a tournament in Chicago On the WTA Well this tournament in particular A WTA 500 event And we've got some big names involved The names are pulled out Which would have made it much much bigger With Savalinka and those kind of players But we've still got Svetlana We've still got Muga Ruther on Drescu We've got massive names playing in this one Who do you think is going to win this one? Let me know down in the comments below Because it's very wide open And we all know that WTA Anybody can win anything at any time Doesn't matter what your ranking is But this event's got some big names And I'm expecting the big names to do well here So having a look at the draw And I'm going to go with Bencic to win this one I feel like she's had a pretty good couple of months And she's in a pretty good part of the draw as well That's right until the quarterfinals Where she'll probably play against Rabakina So I'm going to go with Bencic I think that winning the gold medal A couple of months ago And also having a good run at the US Open Also played a tournament a couple of weeks ago Having a pretty decent run there So I'm going to go with Bencic to win this one Again let me know down in the comments below Who do you think is going to win this one? A new WTA 500 event in Chicago It's got some big names playing