AZ Alkmaar claimed their third consecutive Eredivisie win with a dominant display at Heerenveen.
The champions made all the running in the first half but had only a Martin Lejsal own goal to show for it.
The hosts improved after the break, but Mounir El Hamdaoui killed off the game with a neat finish after 64 minutes.
AZ quickly established their attacking superiority, Brett Holman's early effort drawing a save from Lejsal.
After 24 minutes, Hector Moreno headed Maarten Martens' corner from the left goalwards, but Heerenveen defender Gerry Koning was on hand to clear off the line.
The goal deservedly came on the half-hour mark, Holman passing to El Hamdaoui, whose left-footed shot struck the right post before deflecting against Lejsal and in for an unlucky own goal.
AZ continued to press and could have made it two before the break when Moreno's header from Maartens' corner was parried by Lejsal.
Heerenveen looked sharper after the restart, Bonaventure Kalou finally testing Sergio Romero with a curling effort after 52 minutes.
That was a relatively straightforward save, but he needed a sprawling fingertip effort 10 minutes later to keep out Paulo Henrique's header from a Michal Papadopulos cross.
But any thoughts of a comeback were extinguished when Martens played in El Hamdaoui, who took the ball around the goalkeeper and finished from inside the area.
El Hamdaoui was on fire now and could have had another in the closing moments when his lobbed effort from the edge of the area went narrowly over.
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