Make that a nifty 50

WIMBLEDON, England – “GOD MADE ROGER FEDERER.”

That sign, white block letters on a dark background, stands in front of a church in Wimbledon village, about a 20-minute walk from the All England Club. Told about it, Federer appreciated the sentiment.

“I didn’t see it,” he said. “Maybe now I’ll go have a look around.”

Federer had plenty of time for sightseeing Thursday, when he competed for all of 11 minutes. That was enough to finish off Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 for the Swiss star’s 50th consecutive victory on grass, in a match suspended overnight.

“Fifty is a great number to achieve,” Federer said. “I’m delighted about that, but I haven’t won the tournament.”

His bid to win a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, something only Bjorn Borg has done in the past 100 years, now runs into a tougher test: a third-round showdown today against former No. 1 Marat Safin, who beat qualifier Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

The 26th-seeded Russian is only 2-7 against Federer over their careers but did beat him in the 2005 Australian Open semifinals en route to one of his two major titles.

“He’s obviously a player who can always upset anybody on any day. I hope he’s not going to have one of those crazy good days against me,” said Federer, who has a sore throat. “But I think I can pretty much control also how things are being played on grass.”

The upsets have been kept to a minimum through the tournament’s first four days, and the four seeded men who bowed out Thursday aren’t known for their prowess on grass: No. 11 Tommy Robredo, No. 17 David Ferrer, No. 24 Juan Ignacio Chela and No. 29 Agustin Calleri have made a total of two visits to Wimbledon’s third round.

Winners included No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 4 Novak Djokovic, No. 9 James Blake, 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt and unseeded Wayne Arthurs, who at 36 is the oldest competitor.

Djokovic beat Amer Delic of the United States 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), leaving Blake and No. 3 Andy Roddick as the only American men still around of the 14 who began the tournament.

The women’s tournament has been even more devoid of surprises, and the biggest ones Thursday were losses by No. 13 Dinara Safina and No. 17 Tatiana Golovin. Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo, 2004 champion Maria Sharapova and three-time champion Venus Williams all won in straight sets.