You're right Bethan. You only have to sign-in in advance for:

- slam, AMS, ISG & IS main draws (i.e. all ATPs), 6 weeks in advance
- Challenger main draws, 3 weeks in advance
- Futures main draws, 1 week in advance (earlier around times like Xmas)

- slam, AMS, ISG (and I think not IS) qualifying, 2 or 3 weeks in advance

For Challenger and Futures (& possibly IS) qualifying, you have to sign in on-site, usually by 9 pm local on the day before qualifying starts.

The alts list for a Challenger main draw gives you a fair idea of who's likely to turn up for qualifying, but a lot of players enter just in case the entry list for an event weakens one year (or enter for multiple events in the same week), so usually well under half of those on the Alt list turn up for qualifying. They may be augmented by some players who weren't originally on the Alt list at all, but that will only apply to players who are sure they will get into qualifying (since you wouldn't travel a long distance to qualifying if you were so low-ranked that you might be turning up for nothing) and some locals.

I would say that if Bloomers has decided to stay in Europe rather than enter ATP qualies in the US (which would make sense after long haul flights to Argentina and back and having missed Delray qualifying through DC already), he's bound to get into the qualifying draw in Besancon.

I wonder if the Skupster's w/d from the US Future alt list (which was his priority 1) might be linked to this. Maybe he was intending to link up with Bloomers to play doubles in US Challengers at some point and has now decided to go for qualifying (and doubles) in Besancon too.

That's a long shot, but maybe it's possible given Ken's w/d date from that Future on ITF. Based on last year's qualifying cut (836, despite it being a borderline super-Challenger and the only Challenger on that week, as it is this year) Ken would get in, but he and Bloomers wouldn't make last year's doubles cut. (oops, I've just shot my theory in the foot! )

-- Edited by steven at 17:53, 2008-02-13