Hamburg boosted their hopes of qualifying for Europe with a comfortable victory over relegation-threatened Bochum.
The hosts were never in danger from the moment Jose Paolo Guerrero put them ahead in the 15th minute. Ivica Olic added a second just after the half-hour before netting again after 58 minutes.
Bochum grabbed a late consolation through Paul Freier, but dropped closer to the relegation zone thanks to their fourth consecutive defeat.
The win sees Hamburg move to within five points of top two Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich and, more importantly, open up a three-point lead over Borussia Dortmund in the race for a Europa League berth.
After a difficult few weeks in which Hamburg have seen their hopes of silverware come to an end on three fronts, an early goal was just the ticket for Martin Jol's side.
And they got it from Guerrero, who scored a stunning goal from distance to give the fans at the HSV-Arena something to cheer about after recent disappointments.
Olic could have made it two just minutes later but he failed to make a strong enough contact with Timothee Atouba's cross.
The Croatian got his name on the scoresheet in the 33rd minute, though, as he stole in to beat Matias Concha to a Dennis Aogo corner and headed past Daniel Fernandes.
He added his second and Hamburg's third in the 58th minute, taking advantage of some shoddy Bochum defending to pounce.
Hamburg took their foot of the pedal after netting their third and seemed happy to sit back and preserve their lead.
They invited Bochum to attack and the visitors duly accepted, going close with an effort that Albert Streit had to hack off the line after it took a deflection off Mladen Petric.
Freier grabbed a consolation for Marcel Koller's side, beating Frank Rost with a well-placed shot into the far corner in the 71st minute.
Bochum failed to find a way back as Hamburg tightened up in defense and held on to claim three points which take them back into the top five with two games remaining.
