Albin Ekdal's first goal for Hamburg clinched a 1-0 home win against Hertha Berlin and gave their Bundesliga survival hopes a major boost.
Ekdal lashed in a 77th-minute winner as Hamburg bounced back from last weekend's 8-0 humiliation at Bayern Munich and the midweek DFB-Pokal exit to Borussia Monchengladbach.
The Sweden international midfielder fired into the top corner from inside the penalty area after being played in by Aaron Hunt, and although Hamburg stay in the bottom three they have moved level on points with Wolfsburg, the team immediately above them.
Hertha began the day in fifth place but failed to close the gap on Hoffenheim in their bid for a Champions League place.
Florian Niederlechner scored twice as Freiburg came from behind to win 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
The home side took an early lead through Branimir Hrgota's emphatic finish. But Niederlechner was on the end of a swift counter-attack to level for Freiburg midway through the first half, and struck the winner just before the hour mark.
Freiburg climb two places to eighth, two points behind Frankfurt, who still occupy the final Europa League berth despite a fourth successive defeat.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen sacked head coach Roger Schmidt following their heavy 6-2 defeat at Borussia Dortmund.