Sign in for the Qualy was oversubscribed on the boys´ side as several foreign players who made the trip to San José could not get into the 32 player draw. This occurred despite considerable withdrawals from the 341 boys´entries. Alternates were perhaps seduced by several byes in last year´s qualifying draw.

On the girls´side withdrawals had whittled away the 135 entries to the point where all remaining players have made it into the Main Draw. Hence there is no girls´qualy for the 2012 Copa del Café.

The first round of the qualifying draw on the boys´side presented good match ups on the courts of the Costa Rica Country Club, with several tough three set matches resulting. The most notable results saw Gian ISSA of Suriname ranked 540 defeat 376 ranked Karim AREM of the USA, and Santiago MARESCA of Uruguay ranked 632 get by Julian Zlobinsky of the USA (rank 399), both matches in two sets. An entertaining matchup was seen on Stadium Court as local player Daniel GUTIERREZ ranked 1436 gamely went the distance with Rodrigo SENATTORE of Uruguay (ranked 359) in a tense three setter, with a result of 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.