BERLIN - Bayer Leverkusen extended their unbeaten Bundesliga run to eight games as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Hamburg in a battle of the third- and fourth-placed teams on Saturday.
Rafael van der Vaart gave Hamburg the lead in the 28th minute before Manuel Friedrich equalised for Leverkusen on the hour.
The draw moves both sides to within two points of second-placed Werder Bremen and five adrift of leaders Bayern Munich, while Hamburg remain winless in their past five matches.
Marko Pantelic struck twice as Hertha Berlin claimed their first victory in six games with a 3-1 triumph at defending champions Stuttgart.
Pantelic opened the scoring in the seventh minute only to see Mario Gomez equalise five minutes before the break.
But Pantelic notched another on the stroke of half-time and Raffael made it three in the 49th minute. And things got worse for Stuttgart, who finished the game a man down after Matthieu Delpierre was sent off in the 81st minute.
Wolfsburg's impressive recent form continued as they sent basement club Duisburg crashing to a 2-1 defeat.
Claudiu Niculescu fired visiting Duisburg into a surprise lead just short of the half-hour mark but Marcel Schafer levelled for the hosts before Grafite hit the winner nine minutes into the second period.
Bochum twice threw away a two-goal lead as relegation-threatened Energie Cottbus ended their three-game losing sequence with a 3-3 draw.
The hosts looked to be in for a comfortable afternoon when Stanislav Sestak netted his ninth goal of the campaign following a Kristijan Ipsa own goal, however Michael Papadopulos pulled one back for Cottbus in first-half injury time.
Benjamin Auer restored Bochum's two-goal advantage in the 68th minute but some calamitous defending by the hosts a minute later led to Ervin Skela scoring for Cottbus before Stiven Rivic equalised 11 minutes from time.
Karlsruhe gained a valuable away point with a 2-2 draw at Hannover to remain in the running for a UEFA Cup place.
Hanno Balitsch gave Hannover the lead in the 44th minute only to see Australia international Joshua Kennedy equalise just past the hour mark.
Tamas Hajnal pushed Karlsruhe ahead in the 64th minute but Jan Rosenthal restored parity three minutes from time.
Finally, Hansa Rostock's Christian Rahn equalised Jan Koller's opener as Nurnberg missed the chance to vault out of the relegation zone at the expense of Hansa Rostock.
