Marko Pantelic put Hertha BSC on the road to victory over Hannover 96, a result that takes them up to fifth in the league.
Goals from Pantelic (62.), Andrei Voronin (84.) and Valeri Domovchiyski (90.+1) ensured a comfortable win in the end for the team from the capital, who are now unbeaten in six games.
Hannover start well
Pantelic was also involved in Hertha's first chance after six minutes, playing in Gojko Kacar inside the box but his Serbian compatriot just failed to make contact with the pass.
It was the guests however who were seeing more of the ball early on. But for all their hard running and fluid passing, they were unable to create much in the way of clear-cut chances.
Hertha upped the pace midway through the half, starting with a Pal Dardai shot against the upright (23.). Three minutes later Raffael headed just wide.
Chances at both ends
After that, the staus quo was resumed until half-time. The visitors started the brighter after the break, with Mikael Forssell (50., 52.) and Sergio Pinto (51.) squandering chances they could have done better with.
At the other end, Kacar found his master in 96ers keeper Florian Fromlowitz on the hour mark. Two minutes later Pantelic broke the deadlock, connecting with a fine cross from Maximilian Nicu.
Fromlowitz prevented the striker nabbing a second four minutes later, but his and his side's defences were destined to be breached twice more late on to give the final scoreline an unrepresentatively lopsided look.
Hertha back on track
Hertha move up to second
Easy win for Hertha