diff --git a/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.cc b/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.cc
index 198862940d1..678c94af6f3 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.cc
+++ b/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.cc
@@ -79,11 +79,14 @@ std::vector<Tindices> GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow(
   std::vector<Tindices> segment_indices;
   const Tindices num_entries_in_sparse_tensor = indices_mat.dimension(0);
   const Tindices num_dense_rows_in_sparse_tensor =
-      1 + indices_mat(num_entries_in_sparse_tensor - 1, 0) - indices_mat(0, 0);
+      1 + indices_mat(num_entries_in_sparse_tensor - 1, 0);
   // Reserve an extra slot for the 0 we store in the first entry by convention.
   segment_indices.reserve(1 + num_dense_rows_in_sparse_tensor);
   segment_indices.push_back(0);
-  *contains_empty_rows = false;
+  for (Tindices i = 0; i < indices_mat(0, 0); ++i) {
+    segment_indices.push_back(0);
+  }
+  *contains_empty_rows = indices_mat(0, 0) > 0;
   while (true) {
     const Tindices start_sparse_index_of_next_dense_row =
         FindNextDenseRowStartIndex<Tindices>(
@@ -127,9 +130,9 @@ std::vector<Tindices> ParseRowStartIndices(
 
 template <typename Tindices>
 bool ContainsEmptyRows(const std::vector<Tindices>& row_start_indices) {
-  // Skip checking the lengths of the first and last dense rows since those are
+  // Skip checking the length of the last dense row since it is
   // always non-empty.
-  for (size_t i = 2; i < row_start_indices.size() - 1; ++i) {
+  for (size_t i = 1; i < row_start_indices.size() - 1; ++i) {
     if (row_start_indices.at(i) - row_start_indices.at(i - 1) == 0) {
       return true;
     }
diff --git a/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.h b/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.h
index 9e3c41a4964..d43b2e34470 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.h
+++ b/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils.h
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ Tindices FindNextDenseRowStartIndex(
 // v.front() = 0, v.back() = indices_mat.dimension(0), and for i > 0,
 // v[i] - v[i-1] is the length of the ith dense row in indices_mat.
 // *contains_empty_rows = true if and only if indices_mat contains empty rows
-// (rows without values) between its first and last row.
+// (rows without values) between row 0 and the last row.
 template <typename Tindices>
 std::vector<Tindices> GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow(
     const typename TTypes<Tindices>::ConstMatrix& indices_mat,
diff --git a/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils_test.cc b/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils_test.cc
index 5d0adff8860..5b0e52166d1 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils_test.cc
+++ b/tensorflow/core/kernels/sparse_utils_test.cc
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ TEST(SparseUtilsTest, GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow) {
     bool contains_empty_rows;
     EXPECT_TRUE(GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow<int64>(indices_mat,
                                                      &contains_empty_rows) ==
-                std::vector<int64>({0, 1}));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(contains_empty_rows);
+                std::vector<int64>({0, 0, 0, 0, 1}));
+    EXPECT_TRUE(contains_empty_rows);
   }
   {
     uint32 data[] = {3, 0, 3, 0};
@@ -75,8 +75,8 @@ TEST(SparseUtilsTest, GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow) {
     bool contains_empty_rows;
     EXPECT_TRUE(GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow<uint32>(indices_mat,
                                                       &contains_empty_rows) ==
-                std::vector<uint32>({0, 2}));
-    EXPECT_FALSE(contains_empty_rows);
+                std::vector<uint32>({0, 0, 0, 0, 2}));
+    EXPECT_TRUE(contains_empty_rows);
   }
   {
     uint16 data[] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0};
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ TEST(SparseUtilsTest, ContainsEmptyRows) {
     const auto segment_indices =
         GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow<int32>(indices_mat, &contains_empty_rows);
     // indices_list = {1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3};
-    EXPECT_FALSE(ContainsEmptyRows(segment_indices));
+    EXPECT_TRUE(ContainsEmptyRows(segment_indices));
   }
   {
     uint16 data[] = {1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4};
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ TEST(SparseUtilsTest, ContainsEmptyRows) {
     const auto segment_indices = GetStartIndicesOfEachDenseRow<uint16>(
         indices_mat, &contains_empty_rows);
     // indices_list = {1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3};
-    EXPECT_FALSE(ContainsEmptyRows(segment_indices));
+    EXPECT_TRUE(ContainsEmptyRows(segment_indices));
   }
   {
     int32 data[] = {0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4};