diff --git a/matcher/src/pattern.rs b/matcher/src/pattern.rs
index 0c554ba..bfc4822 100644
--- a/matcher/src/pattern.rs
+++ b/matcher/src/pattern.rs
@@ -171,8 +171,8 @@ impl Atom {
                 let mut saw_backslash = false;
                 for mut c in chars::graphemes(needle) {
                     if saw_backslash {
-                        if c == ' ' {
-                            needle_.push(' ');
+                        if c.is_whitespace() {
+                            needle_.push(c);
                             saw_backslash = false;
                             continue;
                         } else {
@@ -180,23 +180,25 @@ impl Atom {
                         }
                     }
                     saw_backslash = c == '\\';
-                    match case {
-                        #[cfg(feature = "unicode-casefold")]
-                        CaseMatching::Ignore => c = chars::to_lower_case(c),
-                        #[cfg(feature = "unicode-casefold")]
-                        CaseMatching::Smart => {
-                            ignore_case = ignore_case && !chars::is_upper_case(c)
+                    if !saw_backslash {
+                        match case {
+                            #[cfg(feature = "unicode-casefold")]
+                            CaseMatching::Ignore => c = chars::to_lower_case(c),
+                            #[cfg(feature = "unicode-casefold")]
+                            CaseMatching::Smart => {
+                                ignore_case = ignore_case && !chars::is_upper_case(c)
+                            }
+                            CaseMatching::Respect => (),
                         }
-                        CaseMatching::Respect => (),
-                    }
-                    match normalization {
-                        #[cfg(feature = "unicode-normalization")]
-                        Normalization::Smart => {
-                            normalize = normalize && chars::normalize(c) == c;
+                        match normalization {
+                            #[cfg(feature = "unicode-normalization")]
+                            Normalization::Smart => {
+                                normalize = normalize && chars::normalize(c) == c;
+                            }
+                            Normalization::Never => (),
                         }
-                        Normalization::Never => (),
+                        needle_.push(c);
                     }
-                    needle_.push(c);
                 }
             } else {
                 let chars = chars::graphemes(needle).map(|mut c| {
diff --git a/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs b/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs
index 88880ba..c0575f2 100644
--- a/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs
+++ b/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs
@@ -87,6 +87,11 @@ fn case_matching() {
 fn escape() {
     let pat = Atom::parse("foo\\ bar", CaseMatching::Smart, Normalization::Smart);
     assert_eq!(pat.needle.to_string(), "foo bar");
+    let pat = Atom::parse("foö\\ bar", CaseMatching::Smart, Normalization::Smart);
+    assert_eq!(pat.needle.to_string(), "foö bar");
+    // escaped double-width IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE
+    let pat = Atom::parse("foo\\　bar", CaseMatching::Smart, Normalization::Smart);
+    assert_eq!(pat.needle.to_string(), "foo　bar");
     let pat = Atom::parse("\\!foo", CaseMatching::Smart, Normalization::Smart);
     assert_eq!(pat.needle.to_string(), "!foo");
     assert_eq!(pat.kind, AtomKind::Fuzzy);